Experimental Research On Aberrant Methylation Of IL-6Gene And Its Protein Expression In Articular Cartilage Of Knee Osteoarthritis

Objectives To investigate the role of Human IL-6gene promoter hypomethylation in the occurrence and development of knee osteoarthritis (OA).Methods General DNA were dealed with phenol chloroform extracting method. The hypomethylation of IL-6promoter was detected by Methylation-specific PCR (MSP). IL-6protein expression in joint cartilage cells were detected by Immunohistochemical method.37knee OA patients and13control patients were recruited from the in-patient of the second Xiangya hospital of Central South University.The results were analyzed by X2or Fisher’s test and Spearman correlation analysis of SPSS19.0statistic analysis software.Results1. The positive percent of IL-6promoter hypemethylation in healthy persons and knee OA patients were76.92%(10/13) and21.62%(8/37) respectively, Using Fisher’s test, there was significantly different between the two groups(p=0.001).2. The positive percent of IL-6protein in healthy persons and knee OA patients were30.77%(4/13) and72.97%(27/37) respectively. Using Fisher’s test, the positive percent of IL-6protein in knee OA patients was significantly higher than that in healthy persons(P=0.018). 3. Hypomethylation of IL-6gene and its protein expression had no significant relationship with age(P=0.934).4. Promoter hypomethylation showed significantly positive correlation to the expression of IL-6protein (r=0.420, P=0.01)ConclusionsIL-6Promoter is hypomethlated in articular cartilage of knee OA patients. The hypomethylation increase the protein expression of IL-6, which might take a role in the occurrence and development of Knee OA...