1. Academic Validation
  2. α-Ketoglutarate alleviates osteoarthritis by inhibiting ferroptosis via the ETV4/SLC7A11/GPX4 signaling pathway

α-Ketoglutarate alleviates osteoarthritis by inhibiting ferroptosis via the ETV4/SLC7A11/GPX4 signaling pathway

  • Cell Mol Biol Lett. 2024 Jun 14;29(1):88. doi: 10.1186/s11658-024-00605-6.
Rong He # 1 Yuchi Wei # 1 Zeyu Peng 1 Jie Yang 1 Zhenwei Zhou 2 Ailin Li 1 Yongji Wu 1 Mingyue Wang 1 Xiangyan Li 2 Daqing Zhao 2 Zhonghua Liu 3 Haisi Dong 4 Xiangyang Leng 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, Jilin Province, China.
  • 2 Northeast Asia Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, Jilin Province, China.
  • 3 Department of orthopaedics, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, Jilin Province, China. 945769043@qq.com.
  • 4 Northeast Asia Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, Jilin Province, China. adonghaisi@163.com.
  • 5 College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, 130117, Jilin Province, China. lengxiangy@163.com.
  • # Contributed equally.
Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disorder that causes disability in aged individuals, caused by functional and structural alterations of the knee joint. To investigate whether metabolic drivers might be harnessed to promote cartilage repair, a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) untargeted metabolomics approach was carried out to screen serum biomarkers in osteoarthritic rats. Based on the correlation analyses, α-ketoglutarate (α-KG) has been demonstrated to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in various diseases. These properties make α-KG a prime candidate for further investigation of OA. Experimental results indicate that α-KG significantly inhibited H2O2-induced cartilage cell matrix degradation and Apoptosis, reduced levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA), increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) levels, and upregulated the expression of ETV4, SLC7A11 and GPX4. Further mechanistic studies observed that α-KG, like Ferrostatin-1 (Fer-1), effectively alleviated Erastin-induced Apoptosis and ECM degradation. α-KG and Fer-1 upregulated ETV4, SLC7A11, and GPX4 at the mRNA and protein levels, decreased ferrous ion (Fe2+) accumulation, and preserved mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in ATDC5 cells. In vivo, α-KG treatment inhibited Ferroptosis in OA rats by activating the ETV4/SLC7A11/GPX4 pathway. Thus, these findings indicate that α-KG inhibits Ferroptosis via the ETV4/SLC7A11/GPX4 signaling pathway, thereby alleviating OA. These observations suggest that α-KG exhibits potential therapeutic properties for the treatment and prevention of OA, thereby having potential clinical applications in the future.

Keywords

ETV4/SLC7A11/GPX4 signaling pathway; Ferroptosis; Osteoarthritis; α-ketoglutarate.

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