Estrogen receptor Alpha in human knee articular cartilage of healthy and osteoarthritic females.

OBJECTIVE: Estrogen and osteoarthritis association has previously been proposed. This study evaluates the presence of estrogen receptors (ER)-α in articular cartilage, and its association. METHODS: A prospective cohort study of women undergoing anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (controls) or total knee arthroplasty (cases) was performed. Cartilage samples were processed and ER-α expression was quantified. RESULTS: Twenty patients were included: 12 cases and 8 controls. ER-α expression was higher in the case subjects. CONCLUSION: Increased ER-α expression is associated with age, and degeneration. This suggests estrogen deficiency is a risk for osteoarthritis and is inversely related to proliferative looking chondrocytes.