Papers of the Week

Degenerative changes in the intervertebral disc (IVD) are known to be a main cause of low back pain (LBP), oftentimes necessitating interventions that may or may not be successful due to a lack of understanding in the degenerative phenotype and its mechanisms. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of disc degeneration can help design new therapies to induce disc regeneration and reduce back pain. This work aimed to understand the effects of conditional deletion of Sox9 in aggrecan-expressing cells on intervertebral disc degeneration and its underlying mechanisms in mice.