Analysis of DE molecules between Sham and DMM joint tissues revealed different canonical pathways relevant to osteoarthritis, including p38 MAPK signalling (p ​= ​7.85 ​× ​10−13); inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) signalling (p ​= ​3.18 ​× ​10−12); and interleukin (IL) signalling pathways such as IL-10 (p ​= ​2.3 ​× ​10−10) and IL-6 (p ​= ​8.23 ​× ​10−9) signalling. Here, NOS2 is linked to osteoarthritis.