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. 2021 Feb 27;22(5):2411. doi: 10.3390/ijms22052411

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© 2021 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Schematic representation of leptin signalling in cartilage. The leptin from blood can get into the synovial cavity, where it decreases chondrocyte survival and induces apoptosis, and elevates NO production, and IL6 and IL8 secretion by chondrocytes. This activity combined with metalloproteinases (MMP) secretion by chondrocytes induces extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. Leptin also can activate immune cells and induce its proliferation and migration to articulation, inducing pro-inflammatory activity in the tissue that contributes to ECM degradation.