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Red Algae Alters Expression of Inflammatory Pathways in an Osteoarthritis In Vitro Co-Culture
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Mark Waldron ,
Kirsty Meldrum,
Stephen Evans ,
Gill Conway
Pharmaceuticals, Volume: 18, Issue: 3, Start page: 315
Swansea University Authors:
Shane Heffernan , Mark Waldron , Kirsty Meldrum, Stephen Evans , Gill Conway
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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/ph18030315
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions and significantly contributes to local and global disease burden. Common pharmaceuticals that are used to treat OA cause significant side effects, thus non-pharmaceutical bioactive alternatives have been devel...
| Published in: | Pharmaceuticals |
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| ISSN: | 1424-8247 |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68959 |
| Abstract: |
Background/Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions and significantly contributes to local and global disease burden. Common pharmaceuticals that are used to treat OA cause significant side effects, thus non-pharmaceutical bioactive alternatives have been developed that can impact OA symptoms without severe side-effects. One such alternative is the Red Algae Lithothamnion species (Litho). However, there is little mechanistic knowledge of its potential to effect OA gene expression, and a human in vitro model using commercially available cell lines to test its effectiveness has yet to be developed. Methods: Human osteoblast (hFOB 1.19. CRL-11372) and chondrocyte (C28/I2) cell lines were co-cultured indirectly using transwells. IL1-β was used to induce an inflammatory state and gene expression profiles following treatment were the primary outcome. Conclusion: Results indicated that the model was physiologically relevant, remained viable over at least seven days, untreated or following induction of an inflammatory state while maintaining hFOB 1.19. and C28/I2 cell phenotypic characteristics. Following treatment, Litho reduced the expression of inflammatory and pain associated genes, most notably IL-1β, IL-6, PTGS2 (COX-2) and C1qTNF2 (CTRP2). Confirmatory analysis with droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) revealed that Il-1β induced a significant reduction in C1qTNF2 at 7 days which was ameliorated with Litho treatment. These data present a novel and replicable co-culture model of inflammatory OA that can be used to investigate bioactive nutraceuticals. For the first time, this model demonstrated a reduction in C1qTNF2 expression that was mitigated by Red Algae Lithothamnion species. |
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| Keywords: |
Red Algae; gene expression; inflammation; osteoarthritis; in vitro |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This research was partly funded by Nordic Medical Ltd., Office A303-4, Tower Bridge Business Complex, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG (Grant code 106381), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales RWIF fund (Grant code #EE16) and institutionally via Swansea University, Applied Sports Science Technology and Medicine Research Centre. KM would like to acknowledge salary funding from the UKRI RESPIRE study (Grant No. NE/W002264/1). |
| Issue: |
3 |
| Start Page: |
315 |