In agreement with our previous results9, exposure to recombinant osteopontin (rOPN) induced a reduction of α1-adrenergic receptor signalling while treatment with purified YKL-40 rescued partially or completely the signalling dysfunction induced by rOPN, suggesting that elevation of YKL-40 could attenuate scoliosis severity (Fig. 3). The gene discussed is SPP1; the disease is scoliosis.