Osteoarthritis year in review 2018: genetics and epigenetics

Objective: This review was designed to identify highlights of the osteoarthritis (OA) genetics and epigenetics literature published between April 2017 and January 2018. Design: A Pubmed literature search was conducted using the keywords 'osteoarthritis' and each of the following: 'genomic', 'genetic', 'epigenomic', 'epigenetic', 'histone', 'noncoding RNA', 'miRNA', 'lncRNA', 'DNA methylation', 'DNA hydroxymethylation', 'DNMT', and 'TET'. The dates of publication were restricted to 4/1/2017-1/15/2018. Results were compared to the same search terms limited to 4/1/2016-1/15/2017. Results: Virtually all search term combinations demonstrated a decrease in papers published this year compared to last, with epigenetic and miRNA/lncRNA research being stable. Despite this, numerous advances were made this year, including the second large genome-wide association study (GWAS) study of hand OA, a new twin study of hip and knee OA concordance, an extensive study of GDF5 evolution, analyses of the contribution of Dnmt3a to OA, a description of DNA methylation in a nonhuman primate model of OA, and an integrated, multi-omics analysis of DNA methylation, mRNA, and protein expression in human OA samples, among others. A variety of micro-and a few circular-RNA studies were also published, highlighting the importance of noncoding RNA in both the pathogenesis and potential treatment of OA. Conclusion: Although publications have decreased slightly in the last year, genetics and epigenetics continue to be a topic of substantial research in OA, and considerable progress continues to be made in the field. (c) 2018 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.