Detection of selenoprotein transcriptome in chondrocytes of patients with Kashin-Beck disease

Yi Gong; Yifan Wu; Yanli Liu; Sijie Chen; Feiyu Zhang; Feihong Chen; Chaowei Wang; Shujin Li; Minhan Hu; Ruitian Huang; Ke Xu; Xi Wang; Lei Yang; Yujie Ning; Cheng Li; Rong Zhou; Xiong Guo

doi:10.3389/fcell.2023.1083904

Detection of selenoprotein transcriptome in chondrocytes of patients with Kashin-Beck disease

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Feb 17:11:1083904. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1083904. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yi Gong¹, Yifan Wu¹, Yanli Liu¹, Sijie Chen¹, Feiyu Zhang¹, Feihong Chen¹, Chaowei Wang¹, Shujin Li¹, Minhan Hu¹, Ruitian Huang¹, Ke Xu², Xi Wang¹, Lei Yang³, Yujie Ning¹, Cheng Li⁴, Rong Zhou⁴, Xiong Guo^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Xi'an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Key Laboratory of Trace Elements and Endemic Diseases, National Health and Family Planning Commission, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
² Department of Joint Surgery, Hong Hui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
³ Department of Nursing, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
⁴ Shaanxi Provincial Institute for Endemic Disease Control, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.
⁵ Clinical Research Center for Endemic Disease of Shaanxi Province, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China.

Abstract

Background: Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) is a deformed osteochondral disease with a chronic progression that is restrictively distributed in eastern Siberia, North Korea, and some areas of China, and selenium deficiency has been identified as an important factor in the pathogenesis of this disease in recent years. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the selenoprotein transcriptome in chondrocytes and define the contribution of selenoprotein to KBD pathogenesis. Methods: Three cartilage samples were collected from the lateral tibial plateau of adult KBD patients and normal controls paired by age and sex for real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) to detect the mRNA expression of 25 selenoprotein genes in chondrocytes. Six other samples were collected from adult KBD patients and normal controls. In addition, immunohistochemistry was used on four adolescent KBD samples and seven normal controls (IHC) to determine the expression of proteins screened by RT-qPCR results that had different gene levels. Results: Increased mRNA expression of GPX1 and GPX3 was observed in chondrocytes, and stronger positive staining was displayed in the cartilage from both adult and adolescent patients. The mRNA levels of DIO1, DIO2, and DIO3 were increased in KBD chondrocytes; however, the percentage of positive staining decreased in the KBD cartilage of adults. Conclusion: The selenoprotein transcriptome, mainly the glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and deiodinase (DIO) families were altered in KBD and might play a vital role in the pathogenesis of KBD.

Keywords: Kashin–Beck disease; chondrocytes; immunohistochemistry; real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; selenoprotein.

Grants and funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82273752, 81903263, and 81620108026), the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2023-JC-YB-704), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M692543 and 2022M712526).