Osteoarthritis (OA) and post-traumatic OA (PTOA) are prevalent joint disorders and leading
causes of chronic pain. The disease pathology of OA/PTOA is caused by imbalanced
catabolic and anabolic responses and pro-inflammatory changes; however, their connection
to pain is not well studied. Since IL-6 is involved in cartilage degradation and conditions of
inflammatory pain, we set out to identify whether IL-6 and IL-6 signaling mechanisms
contribute to both PTOA-associated cartilage degradation and pain. We performed a …

Osteoarthritis (OA) and posttraumatic OA (PTOA) are caused by an imbalance in catabolic
and anabolic processes in articular cartilage and proinflammatory changes throughout the
joint, leading to joint degeneration and pain. We examined whether interleukin-6 (IL-6)
signaling contributed to cartilage degradation and pain in PTOA. Genetic ablation of Il6 in
male mice decreased PTOA-associated cartilage catabolism, innervation of the knee joint,
and nociceptive signaling without improving PTOA-associated subchondral bone sclerosis …