Affiliations: 1st Department of Internal
Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary | Department of Traumatology and Orthopaedics, Csolnoky
Ferenc Veszprém County Hospital, Veszprém, Hungary | Department of Plant Taxonomy and Ecology,
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary | Drug Research Center, Balatonfüred, Hungary
Note: [] Corresponding author: Bernadett Balla, 1st Department of
Medicine, Semmelweis University Budapest, Korányi 2/a, Budapest, H-1083
Hungary. Tel.: +36 1 2100 278/ext. 1566; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is the result of an
interruption of the local circulation and the injury of vascular supply of
bone. Multiple factors have been implicated in the development of the disease.
However the mechanism of ischemia and necrosis in non-traumatic ONFH is not
clear. The aim of our investigation was to identify genes that are differently
expressed in ONFH vs. non-ONFH human bone and to describe the relationships
between these genes using multivariate data analysis. Six bone tissue samples
from ONFH male patients and 8 bone tissue samples from non-ONFH men were
examined. The expression differences of selected 117 genes were analyzed by
TaqMan probe-based quantitative real-time RT-PCR system. The significance test
indicated marked differences in the expression of nine genes between ONFH and
non-ONFH individuals. These altered genes code for collagen molecules, an
extracellular matrix digesting metalloproteinase, a transcription factor, an
adhesion molecule, and a growth factor. Canonical variates analysis
demonstrated that ONFH and non-ONFH bone tissues can be distinguished by the
multiple expression profile analysis of numerous genes controlled via canonical
TGFB pathway as well as genes coding for extracellular matrix composing
collagen type molecules. The markedly altered gene expression profile observed
in the ONFH of human bone tissue may provide further insight into the
pathogenetic process of osteonecrotic degeneration of bone.
Keywords: Osteonecrosis of femoral head, canonical variates analysis, human subjects, transcriptional profiling
