REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Signaling
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1665313
This article is part of the Research TopicOsteocytes in Bone Health and BeyondView all 4 articles
The multifaceted roles of E3 ubiquitin ligases in osteoarthritis
Provisionally accepted
- Wuhan Fourth Hospital, Wuhan, China
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Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most widespread joint disorder worldwide. It is a major cause of lower limb mobility issues in the elderly. With the ongoing aging of the global population and the increasing prevalence of obesity, the disease burden associated with OA is expected to rise significantly. E3 ubiquitin ligases (E3s) play a crucial role in protein ubiquitination. They identify specific substrates and attach ubiquitin molecules to substrates, thus modulating protein stability, function, and cellular localization. E3s can be classified into three main types: RING-, HECT-, and RBR-type E3s. Growing evidence indicates that E3s affect OA by regulating the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and inflammatory responses. This review highlights the functions and underlying mechanisms of E3s in OA, aiming to provide new therapeutic insights for the treatment of OA.
Keywords: Osteoarthritis, E3 ubiquitin ligases, Ubiquitination, mechanisms, treatments
Received: 14 Jul 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jin, Zhu, Chen, Jing, Tan and Zeng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jie Tan, Wuhan Fourth Hospital, Wuhan, China
Ji Zeng, Wuhan Fourth Hospital, Wuhan, China
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