{"doi":"10.12688/f1000research.109602.2","title":"Characterizing gene expression in an in vitro biomechanical strain model of joint health","abstract":"<ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Background:</ns4:bold> Both genetic and environmental factors appear to contribute to joint health and disease. For example, pathological levels of biomechanical stress on joints play a notable role in initiation and progression of osteoarthritis (OA), a common chronic degenerative joint disease affecting articular cartilage and underlying bone. Population-level gene expression studies of cartilage cells experiencing biomechanical stress may uncover gene-by-environment interactions relevant to human joint health. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Methods:</ns4:bold> To build a foundation for population-level gene expression studies in cartilage, we applied differentiation protocols to develop an <ns4:italic>in vitro</ns4:italic> system of chondrogenic cell lines (iPSC-chondrocytes). We characterized gene regulatory responses of three human iPSC-chondrocyte lines to cyclic tensile strain treatment. We measured the contribution of biological and technical factors to gene expression variation in this system. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Results:</ns4:bold> We identified patterns of gene regulation that differ between strain-treated and control iPSC-chondrocytes. Differentially expressed genes between strain and control conditions are enriched for gene sets relevant to joint health and OA. <ns4:bold/> Furthermore, even in this small sample, we found several genes that exhibit inter-individual expression differences in response to mechanical strain, including genes previously implicated in OA. </ns4:p> <ns4:p> <ns4:bold>Conclusions:</ns4:bold> Expanding this system to include iPSC-chondrocytes from a larger number of individuals will allow us to characterize and better understand gene-by-environment interactions related to joint health. </ns4:p>","journal":"F1000Research","year":2022,"id":291428,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9489,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":37004,"name":"Genevieve Housman","orcid":"0000-0002-3482-7511","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":816616,"name":"Emilie A. Briscoe","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":330412,"name":"Claudia Cuevas","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":65310,"name":"Yoav Gilad","orcid":"0000-0001-8284-8926","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":816209,"name":"Anthony Hung","orcid":"0000-0002-4725-0635","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":83,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:30:38.420009Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}