Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Jian-Chih Chen
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Ping-Cheng Liu
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Cheng-Chang Lu
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Sung-Yen Lin
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Shu-Chun Chuang
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Shun-Cheng Wu
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Ling-hua Chang
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Mon-Juan Lee
Department of Medical Science Industries, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan 71101, Taiwan
Chung-Da Yang
Graduate Institute of Animal Vaccine Technology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912301, Taiwan
Tien-Ching Lee
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Ying-Chun Wang
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Jhong-You Li
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Chun-Wang Wei
Department of Healthcare Administration and Medical Informatics, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Chung-Hwan Chen
Orthopaedic Research Center, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common diseases leading to physical disability, with age being the main risk factor, and degeneration of articular cartilage is the main focus for the pathogenesis of OA. Autophagy is a crucial intracellular homeostasis system recycling flawed macromolecules and cellular organelles to sustain the metabolism of cells. Growing evidences have revealed that autophagy is chondroprotective by regulating apoptosis and repairing the function of damaged chondrocytes. Then, OA is related to autophagy depending on different stages and models. In this review, we discuss the character of autophagy in OA and the process of the autophagy pathway, which can be modulated by some drugs, key molecules and non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs). More in-depth investigations of autophagy are needed to find therapeutic targets or diagnostic biomarkers through in vitro and in vivo situations, making autophagy a more effective way for OA treatment in the future. The aim of this review is to introduce the concept of autophagy and make readers realize its impact on OA. The database we searched in is PubMed and we used the keywords listed below to find appropriate article resources.
