Fig. 1: Ptpn11 deletion in CD4-expressing cells causes age-related AS-like bone disease.
From: Targeting chondrocytes for arresting bony fusion in ankylosing spondylitis
a Gross images of female mice. b Pathological scores (n = 10). c X‐ray images of female mice. Red arrows show kyphosis and joint ankylosis in mature and aged CD4-CKO mice. a, c Scale bars: 1 cm. d Skeleton staining results indicate increased Alcian blue staining (cartilage) in mature CD4-CKO mice and bone fusion in aged CD4-CKO mice. Black arrows show bone deformation. e–h μ-CT radiographs show bone structure of sacroiliac joints, spines (e), hip joints, (f) and knee (g, h). Arrows show osteophytes and bony fusion in spine, hip joints and knee joints. i Femoral bone mineral density (BMD) (n = 5) and j Sagittal sections of femur and tibia show decreased BMD and loss of cortical bone and subchondral bone in aged female CD4-CKO mice. Arrows show bone loss. d–h, j Scale bars: 1 mm. k Radiological images of patients with AS. Arrows indicate outward acetabular labrum, ankylosis of hip and sacroiliac joints and abnormity of epiphysis respectively. Scale bars: 2.5 cm. b, i Data are presented as mean ± SEM. b **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, i p-value = 0.0010, determined by two-tailed Student’s t-test. a, c–h, j, k Data are representative of three independent biological replicates.
