A new study, conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford, showed that the drug talarozole, normally used to treat skin conditions, may also boost the levels of retinoic acid in the joint, suppressing mechanoinflammation and can potentially help in the treatment of hand osteoarthritis.
In the current study, a multidisciplinary research team included hand surgeons, geneticists, data scientists, and biologists to study the biological significance of the relationship between the gene variant and severe osteoarthritis. The researchers utilized data from the UK biobank study, combining them with 33 samples of Articular cartilage taken from people with hand OA during routine surgery.
The authors write in their paper: “We showed that the variant in the gene meant that these individuals had very low levels of retinoic acid to start with (and presumably drop even lower when the joint is injured). This was associated with higher inflammation in the tissue.”