Increased chondrocyte sclerostin may protect against cartilage degradation in osteoarthritis

Objectives: To investigate the regulation of sclerostin (SOST) in osteoarthritis (OA) and its potential effects on articular cartilage degradation. Methods: SOST and other Wnt-beta-catenin components were immuno-localised in osteochondral sections of surgically-induced OA in knees of sheep and mice, and human OA samples obtained at arthroplasty. Regulation of SOST mRNA and protein expression by ovine chondrocytes in response to interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha) or tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) was examined in explant cultures. The effect of 25 or 250 ng/ml recombinant SOST alone or in combination With IL-1 alpha, on ovine articular cartilage explant aggrecan degradation, and chondrocyte gene expression of Wnt-beta-catenin pathway proteins, metalloproteinases and their inhibitors, and cartilage matrix proteins was quantified. Results: Contrary to being an osteocyte-specific protein, SOST was expressed by articular chondrocytes, and mRNA levels were upregulated in vitro by IL-1 alpha but not TNF alpha. Chondrocyte SOST staining was significantly increased only in the focal area of cartilage damage in surgically-induced OA in sheep and mice, as well as end-stage human OA. In contrast, osteocyte SOST was focally decreased in the subchondral bone in sheep OA in association with bone sclerosis. SOST was biologically active in chondrocytes, inhibiting Wnt-beta-catenin signalling and catabolic metalloproteinase [matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and distintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospndin repeats (ADAMTS)] expression, but also decreasing mRNA levels of aggrecan, collagen II and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinaes (TIMPs). Despite this mixed effect, SOST dose-dependently inhibited IL-1 alpha-stimulated cartilage aggrecanolysis in vitro. Conclusions: These results implicate SOST in regulating the OA disease processes, but suggest opposing effects by promoting disease-associated subchondral bone sclerosis while inhibiting degradation of cartilage. (C) 2011 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.