Elucidating the functional roles of CCL17 in obesity-associated osteoarthritis

Summary Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic musculoskeletal condition that has many associated risk factors with one of them being obesity. This PhD project will explore molecular factors that contribute to obesity-associated OA.

Project Details

Many studies have reported that obese patients with OA are more likely to experience worse clinical symptoms, including pain, compared to those who are lean.

CCL17 has been recently identified (Achuthan et al., JCI, 2016) as a novel downstream inflammatory mediator of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). It is important for the development of osteoarthritic pain and disease (Lee et al., Arthritis Research & Therapy, 2018; Lee et al., Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, 2020). While these studies highlight the importance of CCL17 in OA, the regulation of CCL17 expression and its functional role(s) in obesity-associated OA largely remains unknown.

This PhD project will explore the regulation and function of CCL17 by utilizing preclinical models of OA and obesity, immunological/biochemical assays and OA patient samples.