Figure 4.

ADAMTS-7 associates with and degrades COMP in ONFH patients. (a) Representative western blotting of cartilage from ONFH and FNF patients. ADAMTS-7 (180 kDa), full-length COMP (110 kDa), and COMP fragment (≈65 kDa) were detected by western blot analysis. Expression levels of each gene are expressed as percentage of control. Expression level of ADAMTS-7 (b) and COMP fragment (d) is significantly increased in ONFH patients compared to in FNF patients, while the full-length COMP (c) level was decreased in ONFH patients (^* P < 0.05, ^** P < 0.01).