The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) protein seems to play a key role in the epigenetic age of articular chondrocytes, or cartilage cells. In a preclinical study published by Sarkar et al in Aging Cell, researchers molecularly activated STAT3 in chondrocytes, which resulted in the creation of cartilage cells that had an epigenetic pattern similar to that of younger cells. When STAT3 was inactivated, the chondrocytes looked epigenetically older. These findings may, according to the study authors, “…elucidate a pivotal mechanism that, if targeted, may preclude the underlying dysfunction in age-associated processes preventing deleterious changes in cartilage and inhibiting consequential systemic decline of joint function.”