Adipose-Joint Crosstalk in Obesity-Induced Osteoarthritis: Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Translational Therapeutic Opportunities.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Obesity-induced osteoarthritis (OA) is emerging as a distinct metabolic phenotype fundamentally different from mechanically driven OA. Current therapies largely target downstream joint damage and fail to address underlying adipose-joint pathological interactions. This review synthesises recent advances in understanding how systemic metabolic dysfunction, adipose tissue inflammation, and cellular heterogeneity revealed by single-cell analyses drive OA pathogenesis, and highlights emerging strategies targeting metabolic dysfunction and chronic inflammation. We critically summarised human and experimental studies investigating the role of dysfunctional adipose depots, including visceral, subcutaneous, and infrapatellar fat, in joint degeneration. Mechanistic findings on adipokine signalling, immune activation, and metabolic stress were integrated with recent single-cell insights and therapeutic interventions addressing systemic metabolism and inflammation. Obesity promotes adipose tissue hypertrophy, hypoxia, and inflammatory adipokine secretion, which remodel systemic metabolism and alter the function of joint-resident cells. Crosstalk between adipocytes, macrophages, fibroblasts, and chondrocytes sustains chronic low-grade inflammation, oxidative stress, and extracellular matrix degradation. Single-cell analyses have revealed fibroblast and macrophage subsets that mediate depot-

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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