VEGFA and inflammatory response: A 2 week oral treatment with cordycepin reduced synovial mRNA expression of inflammatory (CD68 and IL1β) and angiogenic (nestin and VEGF) markers in the DMM model, indicating effects of cordycepin on synovial inflammation at the cellular level, although significance was not achieved for cell proliferation (PCNA and MYC) markers (Fig. 5D,G), nor on histological synovial inflammation score (Table 1).