Epigenetics and Cartilage Regeneration

Regenerative cartilage therapy has great potential for the treatment of debilitating diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Recent advances in the field of epigenetics have enabled us to understand more clearly the role of micro RNAs, DNA methylations and histone modification in disease progression, as well as its potential role in disease prevention. However, a thorough understanding of the external dietary and environmental factors that could affect the epigenetic events could be the key to unravelling novel therapeutic strategies for these diseases. There is, therefore, a need for identifying certain dietary or environmental factors that could change this downward epigenetics signalling cascade, stop or retard cartilage degradation and promote cartilage regeneration