Omics Tech Unlocks New Insights Into Rheumatoid Arthritis

In recent years, scientific research has made great strides in the development of “omics” techniques. Omics studies examine all of the genes, proteins, and metabolites from a sample at once and have added tremendous value in our understanding of musculoskeletal tissues and associated diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

What are omics techniques?

Omics refers to the large-scale study of biological material within a sample. As explained above, this has been done in bulk – looking at the entire sample as a whole. Types of omics techniques include:

• Genomics: Study of all DNA in a sample
• Transcriptomics: Study of all genes expressed in a sample
• Proteomics: Study of all proteins in a sample
• Metabolomics: Study of all small molecules in a sample

By examining all of the contents within a sample, these studies can give scientists a comprehensive view of the sample as a whole. However, these studies mask cellular heterogeneity within the sample because they only show the averages across all cells in the population. These omic studies also don’t reveal spatial patterns within tissues. 

Single-cell and spatial omics

Newer, more precise methods, within the “omics” technologies look at individual cells instead of the entire population. When combined with spatial methods, this allows scientists to understand the arrangement of these cells and what they’re doing within a larger sample.

These types of studies have allowed rheumatoid arthritis researchers to identify new cell types involved in disease, show how immune cells interact with cartilage and bone cells, and potentially identify new pathways that can be used as drug targets.

Citation: 

Li, X., Fang, L., Zhou, R. et al. Current cutting-edge omics techniques on musculoskeletal tissues and diseases. Bone Res 13, 59 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41413-025-00442-z