Relationship of MicroRNAs to Transposons in Osteoarthritis Development

The conducted GWAS identified the association of osteoarthritis with more than 100 different SNPs, most of which are located in intronic and intergenic regions where genes encoding transposable elements and noncoding RNAs derived from them are located. A number of studies have also determined the activation of retroelements in joint tissues and in peripheral blood of patients with osteoarthritis. An assumption has been made that activated transposons, which cause aging and associated inflammation, influence the etiopathogenesis of osteoarthritis. To confirm this hypothesis, a search was conducted for data on changes in the expression of specific microRNAs derived from transposons during aging and osteoarthritis. As a result, 23 such microRNAs were found, the participation of which in the development of the disease is associated with an impact on genes and signaling pathways regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis, inflammatory and metabolic processes, and mechanisms of cartilage degradation. Changes in expression of these microRNAs indicate that the epigenetic mechanisms of aging are involved in osteoarthritis etiopathogenesis owing to pathological activation of transposable elements complementary to the sequences of noncoding RNAs derived from them in evolution.