Supplemental PowerPoint Slides Upregulation of TNF-α and ADAMTS-5, but not ADAMTS-4, in Human Intervertebral Cartilage Endplate with Modic Changes Shuai Chen a, b, Yue Huang a, b, MD, Zhi-Jie Zhou a, b, PhD, Zhi-Jun Hu a, b, PhD, Ji-Ying Wang b, Wen-Bin Xu, Xiang-Qian Fang a, b, MD, Shun-Wu Fan a, b, MD aDepartment of Orthopaedics, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China bKey Laboratory of Biotherapy of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China Copyright © 2014 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized commercial reproduction of this slide is prohibited

The importance of human cartilage endplate (CEP) in lumbar degeneration and low back pain is emerging these days. ADAMTSs may be the crucial enzymes in the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) of CEP. We studied the expression of ECM proteins, ADAMTS-4, ADAMTS-5 and TNF-α in 60 human CEPs with Modic changes. We also cultured bovine endplate chondrocytes to investigate the role of TNF-α and NF-κB pathway in the expression of ADAMTSs.

We found that the expression of ADAMTS-5, but not ADAMTS-4 was significantly elevated in human CEP with Modic changes. Elevated expression of ADAMTS-5 was positively correlated with that of TNF-α. This process was mediated by TNF-α in primary cultured bovine endplate chondrocytes along with the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway. We concluded that the upregulation of TNF-α and ADAMTS-5, but not ADAMTS-4 may play an important role in degenerative CEP.