Betaine Downregulates RARRES1 to Alleviate Cartilage Fibrosis and Promote Hyaline Cartilage Repair
Shiqi Wang, Yang Xue, Jiarui Zhuang, Nuo Xu, Zhaofeng Zhang, Guihua Tan, Huiming Jiang, Rui Wu, Dongquan Shi · 2026
Read Betaine Downregulates RARRES1 to Alleviate Cartilage Fibrosis and Promote Hyaline Cartilage Repair by Shiqi Wang, Yang Xue, Jiarui Zhuang, Nuo Xu, Zhaofeng Zhang, Guihua Tan, Huiming Jiang, Rui Wu, Dongquan Shi (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13467245.txt.
Description
Shiqi Wang and colleagues identify a gene that marks cartilage turning fibrous in osteoarthritis, then show a common dietary compound dialing it down, in a 2026 study. The gene, RARRES1, surfaced from bulk and single-cell gene data as a signal of degeneration, and it ran high in patients' damaged cartilage regions. A lab fibrosis model in cartilage cells confirmed the pattern.
Silencing the gene relieved fibrosis in that model. The compound betaine lowered RARRES1 and encouraged repair toward smooth hyaline cartilage, the joint's proper surface. A second gene, RGS2, emerged as the channel through which betaine acts. Tests spanned dishes and animals, with protein checks, cell sorting, and tissue staining.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shiqi Wang, Yang Xue, Jiarui Zhuang, Nuo Xu, Zhaofeng Zhang, Guihua Tan, Huiming Jiang, Rui Wu, Dongquan Shi |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 49 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |