TLR3 and GLUL orchestrate inflammatory and homeostatic imbalance in osteoarthritis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease marked by chronic inflammation, extracellular matrix degradation, and dysregulated cell death. The roles of apoptosis-, autophagy-, and ferroptosis-related genes in OA pathogenesis remain unclear.

Methods

Integrated bioinformatics analyses were conducted on public GEO datasets to identify apoptosis-autophagy-ferroptosis-related genes (AAFRGs). TLR3 and GLUL were identified using LASSO, random forest, and SVM-RFE algorithms. Immune infiltration analysis, immunohistochemistry, and functional assays in human chondrocytes were performed, and ACLT-induced rat OA models were used for in vivo validation.

Results

TLR3 was upregulated and associated with pro-inflammatory immune cells, while GLUL was downre

SUBMITTER: Wang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12875911 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature