Abstract

A Systems Biology Approach to Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis (PTOA) Disease Biology and Biomarkers

Begum Alaybeyoglu, Principal Scientist, Javelin Biotech

Understanding metabolic dysregulation in musculoskeletal disorders facilitates discovery of biomarkers and supports development of disease modifying drugs (DMDs). Previous omics studies provided extensive knowledge and diagnostic marker candidates for osteoarthritis (OA), despite the lack of consensus in molecular signature due to disease heterogeneity and patient variability. Our study focused on circulating metabolites for investigation of non-invasive early biomarkers of post-traumatic OA (PTOA) to understand disease initiation and progression using an ex vivo human disease model. We studied the altered metabolism on earth and in space to demonstrate donor variability and effect of microgravity for discovery of early PTOA disease biomarkers and DMDs.