Grant: Operating Grant - PA: IMHA - New Invest.- Musculoskeletal Health Bridge Funding

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and results in substantial disability in the elderly. In Canada, there are 4.2 million people affected by arthritis, mostly OA. The economic burden of arthritis in Canada was estimated at $6.4 billion per year. Despite its high prevalence and societal burden, there is no cure for it, and total joint replacement surgery is the only choice for people with end-stage OA. OA is a heterogeneous disease resulting from different causes but the same clinical presentation. Identifying subgroups of OA has great potential to improve the effectiveness of the current available treatments and develop targeted OA drugs. Diabetes is now identified as an independent risk factor for OA. And our preliminary results also support it. In this study, we propose to study the link between OA and diabetes using human cartilage tissue, joint fluid, and blood collected from OA patients with and without diabetes. Our research will provide insights into the association between OA and diabetes and help confirm a new OA subtype - diabetes-induced OA. It will have a dramatic impact on prevention of OA by formulating targeted treatments to subgroups of OA and reduce the impact of OA as a major health problem.