Effect of autotaxin inhibition in a surgically-induced mouse model of osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease with no approved disease modifying therapy. The enzyme autotaxin (ATX) converts lysophoshatidylcholine analogues to lysophosphatidic acid. Systemic inhibition of ATX reduces pain in animal models of OA; however, OA disease-modifying effects associated with ATX inhibition remain unknown. Here, we sought to determine whether local (knee joint) injection of an ATX inhibitor attenuates surgically-induced OA in mice.