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DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

Keep your Sox on, chondrocytes!

The transcription factor Sox9 is important for cartilage formation during development, but its role in postnatal growth plates and adult articular cartilage has been uncertain. New research is revealing essential roles for Sox9 in postnatal cartilage homeostasis and in preventing post-traumatic osteoarthritis, along with new mechanisms for chondrocyte-to-osteoblast transition.

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Fig. 1: Role of Sox9 in determining chondrocyte fate.

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Correspondence to Andrew A. Pitsillides or Frank Beier.

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Pitsillides, A.A., Beier, F. Keep your Sox on, chondrocytes!. Nat Rev Rheumatol 17, 383–384 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-021-00628-9

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