Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint disorder characterized by progressive degeneration of cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM), chondrocyte hypertrophy and apoptosis and inflammation. The current treatments mainly concern pain control and reduction of inflammation, but no therapeutic strategy has been identified as a disease-modifying treatment. Therefore, identifying specific biomarkers useful to prevent, treat or distinguish the stages of OA disease has become an immediate need of clinical practice. The role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in OA has been investigated in the last decade, and increasing evidence has emerged that the influence of the environment on gene expression through epigenetic processes contributes to the development, progression and aggressiveness of OA, in particular acting on the microenvironment modulations. The effects of epigenetic regulation, particularly different miRNA methylation during OA disease, were highlighted in the present systematic review. The evidence arising from this study of the literature conducted in three databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science) suggested that miRNA methylation state already strongly impacts OA progression, driving chondrocytes and synoviocyte proliferation, apoptosis, inflammation and ECM deposition. However, the possibility of understanding the mechanism by which different epigenetic modifications of miRNA or pre-miRNA sequences drive the aggressiveness of OA could be the new focus of future investigations.
Keywords: cartilage epigenetic modifications; miRNA methylation; osteoarthritis.