Identification of SLC3A2 as a Potential Therapeutic Target of Osteoarthritis Involved in Ferroptosis by Integrating Bioinformatics, Clinical Factors and Experiments

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of arthritis that causes joint pain and limited mobility. In recent years, some studies have shown that the pathological process of OA chondrocytes is related to ferroptosis. Our study aims to identify and validate differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes (DEFRGs) in OA chondrocytes and to investigate the potential molecular mechanisms. RNA-sequencing and microarray datasets were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data repository. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by four methods: limma-voom, edgeR, DESeq2, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA), protein-protein interactions (PPI), and cytoHubba of Cytoscape were applied to identify hub genes. Clinical OA cartilage specimens were collected for quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis, western blotting (WB), histological staining, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and transfection. Sankey diagram was used to visualize the relationships between the expression level of SLC3A2 in the damaged area and clinical factors. Based on bioinformatics analysis, clinical factors, and experiment validation, SLC3A2 was identified as a hub gene. It was down-regulated in OA cartilage compared to normal cartilage (p < 0.05). Functional enrichment analysis revealed that SLC3A2 was associated with ferroptosis-related functions. Spearman correlation analysis showed that the expression level of SLC3A2 in the OA cartilage-damaged area was closely related to BMI, obesity grade, and Kellgren-Lawrence grade. Furthermore, in vitro experiments validated that SLC3A2 inhibited ferroptosis and suppressed cartilage degeneration in OA. In summary, we demonstrated that SLC3A2 inhibited ferroptosis and suppressed cartilage degeneration in OA. These findings provide a new idea for the study of the pathogenesis of OA, thus providing new means for the clinical diagnosis and targeted therapy of OA.