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Impaired Efferocytosis In Knee Osteoarthritis, Luigi M. Del Sordo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Non-resolving synovial inflammation is present in both human and animal models and plays a key role in the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, it is not known how inflammation affects synovial macrophage function and if this contributes to the loss of tissue homeostasis. The purpose of this thesis was to understand the role of efferocytosis in knee OA. There is an increased apoptotic cell burden within the synovium of patients with late-stage knee OA. Synovial-derived macrophages from these patients exhibited impaired efferocytosis. Healthy blood-derived macrophages exposed to synovial fluid from patients with knee OA recapitulated the defective efferocytosis. Impaired …