The Study Of The Relationship Between Tumor Necrosis Factor-like Weak Inducer Of Apoptosis (TWEAK) And Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

BACKGROUND: Intervertebral disc degeneration is the main reason of intervertebral disc herniation. The studies indicate that the cytokines plays an important role in intervertebral disc degeneration. Foreign scholars confirmed that tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) expressed in murine disc culture and participated in intervertebral disc degeneration.OBJECTIVE: To explore the expression of necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) in the human intervertebral disc tissue, and investigate the relationship between the expression and intervertebral disc degeneration.METHODS:20 prominent L4 / 5 and (or) L5/S1 intervertebral discs from the patients with L4 / 5 or L5/S1 lumbar disc herniation were selected as the experimental group; 5 L2-3 intervertebral disc from the scoliolosis patients were selected as the control group. The conventional HE staining was used to detect the nucleus pulposus of intervertebral disc of the experimental group and control group from the human body. The expression of TWEAK was detected by immunohistochemical staining. The density of the positive signal of the nucleus pulposus'cells was determined by the medical image analysis system.RESULTS: TWEAK could express both in the normal human intervertebral disc tissue and the degeneration human intervertebral disc tissue. The expression level of TWEAK in degenerated intervertebral disc tissue was much higher than normal intervertebral disc tissue, with a significant difference between them(P <0.05).CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that TWEAK may be one of the important cytokines which promote the disc degeneration. TWEAK could accelerate the degeneration of intervertebral disc by inducing cytokine secretion, regulating inflammatory effect, and conducing cell death through a variety of ways. But the specific mechanism remains to be further studied.