Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease which causes pain and stiffness in joints. OA progresses through excessive degradation of joint cartilage, eventually leading to significant joint degeneration and loss of function. Cytokines, a group of cell signalling proteins, present in raised concen...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Baker, Michelle, Brook, Bindi S., Owen, Markus R.
Format: Article
Published: Springer Verlag 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40411/
_version_ 1848796049836081152
author Baker, Michelle
Brook, Bindi S.
Owen, Markus R.
author_facet Baker, Michelle
Brook, Bindi S.
Owen, Markus R.
author_sort Baker, Michelle
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease which causes pain and stiffness in joints. OA progresses through excessive degradation of joint cartilage, eventually leading to significant joint degeneration and loss of function. Cytokines, a group of cell signalling proteins, present in raised concentrations in OA joints, can be classified into pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory groups. They mediate cartilage degradation through several mechanisms, primarily the up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a group of collagen-degrading enzymes. In this paper we show that the interactions of cytokines within cartilage have a crucial role to play in OA progression and treatment. We develop a four-variable ordinary differential equation model for the interactions between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments (Fn-fs), a by-product of cartilage degradation and upregulator of cytokines. We show that the model has four classes of dynamic behaviour: homoeostasis, bistable inflammation, tristable inflammation and persistent inflammation. We show that positive and negative feedbacks controlling cytokine production rates can determine either a pre-disposition to OA or initiation of OA. Further, we show that manipulation of cytokine, MMP and Fn-fs levels can be used to treat OA, but we suggest that multiple treatment targets may be essential to halt or slow disease progression.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T19:41:48Z
format Article
id nottingham-40411
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T19:41:48Z
publishDate 2017
publisher Springer Verlag
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-404112020-05-04T18:34:18Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40411/ Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage Baker, Michelle Brook, Bindi S. Owen, Markus R. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease which causes pain and stiffness in joints. OA progresses through excessive degradation of joint cartilage, eventually leading to significant joint degeneration and loss of function. Cytokines, a group of cell signalling proteins, present in raised concentrations in OA joints, can be classified into pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory groups. They mediate cartilage degradation through several mechanisms, primarily the up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a group of collagen-degrading enzymes. In this paper we show that the interactions of cytokines within cartilage have a crucial role to play in OA progression and treatment. We develop a four-variable ordinary differential equation model for the interactions between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments (Fn-fs), a by-product of cartilage degradation and upregulator of cytokines. We show that the model has four classes of dynamic behaviour: homoeostasis, bistable inflammation, tristable inflammation and persistent inflammation. We show that positive and negative feedbacks controlling cytokine production rates can determine either a pre-disposition to OA or initiation of OA. Further, we show that manipulation of cytokine, MMP and Fn-fs levels can be used to treat OA, but we suggest that multiple treatment targets may be essential to halt or slow disease progression. Springer Verlag 2017-02-17 Article PeerReviewed Baker, Michelle, Brook, Bindi S. and Owen, Markus R. (2017) Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage. Journal of Mathematical Biology . ISSN 1432-1416 Osteoarthritis cytokine modeling simulation non-linear dynamics http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00285-017-1104-y doi:10.1007/s00285-017-1104-y doi:10.1007/s00285-017-1104-y
spellingShingle Osteoarthritis
cytokine
modeling
simulation
non-linear dynamics
Baker, Michelle
Brook, Bindi S.
Owen, Markus R.
Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
title Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
title_full Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
title_fullStr Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
title_full_unstemmed Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
title_short Mathematical modelling of cytokines, MMPs and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
title_sort mathematical modelling of cytokines, mmps and fibronectin fragments in osteoarthritic cartilage
topic Osteoarthritis
cytokine
modeling
simulation
non-linear dynamics
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40411/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40411/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/40411/