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Research progress on the effect of miRNA-mediated PPARγ-related signaling pathways on lipid metabolism in steroid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head

GAO Hai-Yuan¹, WANG Xiao-Ping², ZHOU Ming-Wang^3,*, YANG Xing¹, HE Bang-Jing¹

¹School of Clinical Chinese Medicine, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730000, China；²Translational Medicine Research Center, Gansu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730050, China；³Department of Orthopedics and Joint Surgery, Gansu Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730050, China

Abstract

Steroid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head (SONFH) is a disease characterized by femoral head collapse and local pain caused by excessive use of glucocorticoids. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) is mainly expressed in adipose tissue. Wnt/β-catenin, AMPK and other related signaling pathways play an important role in regulating adipocyte differentiation, fatty acid uptake and storage. Bone marrow mesenchymal cells (BMSCs) have the ability to differentiate into adipocytes or osteoblasts, and the use of hormones upregulates PPARγ expression, resulting in BMSCs biased towards adipogenic differentiation. The increase of adipocytes affects the blood supply and metabolism of the femoral head, and the decrease of osteoblasts leads to the loss of trabecular bone, which eventually leads to partial or total ischemic necrosis and collapse of the femoral head. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression by inhibiting the transcription or translation of target genes, thereby affecting cell function and disease progression. Studies have shown that miRNAs affect the progression of SONFH by regulating PPARγ lipid metabolism-related signaling pathways. Therefore, it may be an accurate and feasible SONFH treatment strategy to regulate adipogenic-osteoblast differentiation in BMSCs by targeted intervention of miRNA differential expression to improve lipid metabolism. In this paper, the miRNA-mediated PPARγ -related signaling pathways were classified and summarized to clarify their effects on lipid metabolism in SONFH, providing a theoretical reference for miRNA targeted therapy of SONFH, and then providing scientific evidence for SONFH precision medicine.

Key words: steroid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head; microRNA (miRNA); PPARγ; lipid metabolism; signaling pathways

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 周明旺　　E-mail:

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2025.0044

Citing This Article：

GAO Hai-Yuan, WANG Xiao-Ping, ZHOU Ming-Wang, YANG Xing, HE Bang-Jing. Research progress on the effect of miRNA-mediated PPARγ-related signaling pathways on lipid metabolism in steroid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head. Acta Physiol Sin 2025; 77 (3): 493-503 (in Chinese with English abstract).