This mini-review aims to introduce the association between Secretory
clusterin/
apolipoprotein J (sCLU) and diverse
musculoskeletal diseases. A comprehensive review of the literature was performed to identify basic science and clinical studies, which implied the therapeutic and prognostic role of sCLU in diverse
musculoskeletal diseases. sCLU is a multifunctional
glycoprotein that is ubiquitously expressed in various tissues and is implicated in many pathophysiological processes. Dysregulated expression of sCLU had been reported to be assocaited with proliferative or apoptotic molecular processes and inflammatory responses, which participated in many pathophysiological processes such as degenerative
musculoskeletal diseases including ischemic
osteonecrosis,
osteoarthritis (OA) and degenerative cervical
myelopathy (
spinal cord injury), neoplastic
musculoskeletal diseases, inflammatory and autoimmune
musculoskeletal diseases including
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), joint damage induced by Brucella abortus,
Sjogren's syndrome,
idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, muscle
glucose metabolism,
insulin sensitivity and traumatic
musculoskeletal diseases. Recent findings of sCLU in these
musculoskeletal diseases provides insights on the therapeutic and prognostic role of sCLU in these
musculoskeletal diseases. sCLU may serve as a promising therapeutic target for ischemic
osteonecrosis, OA and
spinal cord injury as well as a potential prognostic
biomarker for OA and RA. Moreover, sCLU could act as a prognostic
biomarker for
osteosarcoma (OS) and a promising therapeutic target for OS resistance. Although many studies support the potential therapeutic and prognostic role of sCLU in some inflammatory and autoimmune-mediated
musculoskeletal diseases, more future researches are needed to explore the molecular pathogenic mechanism mediated by sCLU implied in these
musculoskeletal diseases.