1. Rajasekaran S, Kanna RM, Senthil N, Raveendran M, Cheung KM, Chan D, Subramaniam S, Shetty AP. Phenotype variations affect genetic association studies of degenerative disc disease: conclusions of analysis of genetic association of 58 single nucleotide polymorphisms with highly specific phenotypes for disc degeneration in 332 subjects. The Spine Journal. 2013 Oct 1; 13(10):1309-20.
2. Rajasekaran S, Bajaj N, Tubaki V, Kanna RM, Shetty AP. Anatomy of Failure in Lumbar Disc Herniation. An In Vivo, Multimodal, Prospective Study of 181 Subjects. Global Spine Journal. 2014 May;4(S 01):in3-01.
3. Kanna RM, Shetty AP, Rajasekaran S. Patterns of lumbar disc degeneration are different in degenerative disc disease and disc prolapse magnetic resonance imaging analysis of 224 patients. The Spine Journal. 2014 Feb 1;14(2):300-7.
4. Ranjani, R. Veera, N. Senthil, M. Raveendran, S. Vellaikumar, R. Gnanam, M. K. Rishi, and S. Rajasekaran. "Profiling of Metabolites from Human Intervertebral Disc through Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry." Indian Journal of Science and Technology 7, no. 8 (2014): 1228-1235.
5. Rajasekaran S, Kanna RM, Senthil N, Raveendran M, Ranjani V, Cheung KM, Chan D, Kao PY, Yee A, Shetty AP. Genetic susceptibility of lumbar degenerative disc disease in young Indian adults. European Spine Journal. 2015 Sep 1;24(9):1969-75.
6. Ranjani, Veera, G. Sreemol, Raveendran Muthurajan, Senthil Natesan, R. Gnanam, Rishi M. Kanna, and S. Rajasekaran. "Proteomic Analysis of Degenerated Intervertebral Disc-identification of Biomarkers of Degenerative Disc Disease and Development of Proteome Database." Global Spine Journal 6, no. 1_suppl (2016): s-0036.
7. Rajasekaran, S., Chitraa Tangavel, Siddharth N. Aiyer, Sharon Miracle Nayagam, M. Raveendran, Naveen Luke Demonte, Pramela Subbaiah, Rishi Kanna, Ajoy Prasad Shetty, and K. Dharmalingam. "ISSLS PRIZE IN CLINICAL SCIENCE 2017: is infection the possible initiator of disc disease? An insight from proteomic analysis." European spine journal 26, no. 5 (2017): 1384-1400.
8. Kanna, Rishi Mugesh, Rajasekaran Shanmuganathan, Veera Ranjani Rajagopalan, Senthil Natesan, Raveendran Muthuraja, Kenneth Man Chee Cheung, Danny Chan, Patrick Yu Ping Kao, Anita Yee, and Ajoy Prasad Shetty. "Prevalence, patterns, and genetic association analysis of Modic vertebral endplate changes." Asian spine journal 11, no. 4 (2017): 594.
9. Kanna RM, Shanmuganathan R, Rajagopalan VR, Natesan S, Muthuraja R, Cheung KM, Chan D, Kao PY, Yee A, Shetty AP. Prevalence, patterns, and genetic association analysis of Modic vertebral endplate changes. Asian spine journal. 2017 Aug; 11(4):594.
10. S Rajasekaran., Dilip Chand Raja S., Chitraa Tangavel., Sri Vijay Anand K S., Sharon Miracle Nayagam., Monica Steffi Matchado., M Raveendran., Ajoy Prasad Shetty., Rishi Mugesh Kanna., K Dharmalingam. “Proteomic Signature of Nucleus Pulposus in Fetal Intervertebral Disc.” Asian Spine Journal. Accepted September 16, 2019. Manuscript No- ASJ-2019-0217.R1
11. Rajasekaran S, Tangavel C, KS SV, Soundararajan DC, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Raveendran M, Shetty AP, Kanna RM, Dharmalingam K. Inflammaging determines health and disease in lumbar discs—evidence from differing proteomic signatures of healthy, aging, and degenerating discs. The Spine Journal. 2019 May 22.
12. Rajasekaran S, Tangavel C, Soundararajan DCR, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Muthurajan R, Anand KSSV, Rajendran S, Shetty AP, Kanna RM, Kuppamuthu D. Proteomic Signatures of Healthy Intervertebral Discs From Organ Donors: A Comparison With Previous Studies on Discs From Scoliosis, Animals, and Trauma. Neurospine. 2020 Jun;17(2):426-442. doi: 10.14245/ns.2040056.028. Epub 2020 Jun 30. PMID: 32615701; PMCID: PMC7338947.
13. Rajasekaran S, Soundararajan DCR, Tangavel C, Muthurajan R, Sri Vijay Anand KS, Matchado MS, Nayagam SM, Shetty AP, Kanna RM, Dharmalingam K. Human intervertebral discs harbour a unique microbiome and dysbiosis determines health and disease. Eur Spine J. 2020 Jul;29(7):1621-1640. doi: 10.1007/s00586-020-06446-z. Epub 2020 May 14. PMID: 32409889.
14. Rajasekaran S, Tangavel C, Djuric N, Raveendran M, Soundararajan DCR, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Anand KSSV. Part 1: profiling extra cellular matrix core proteome of human fetal nucleus pulposus in search for regenerative targets. Sci Rep. 2020 Sep 24;10(1):15684. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72859-x. PMID: 32973250; PMCID: PMC7519061.
15. Rajasekaran S, Soundararajan DCR, Tangavel C, K S SVA, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Muthurajan R, Shetty AP, Kanna RM, Dharmalingam K. Proteomic Signature of Nucleus Pulposus in Fetal Intervertebral Disc. Asian Spine J. 2020 Aug;14(4):409-420. doi: 10.31616/asj.2019.0217. Epub 2020 Jan 30. PMID:31995966; PMCID: PMC7435318.
16. Rajasekaran S, Soundararajan DCR, Tangavel C, Nayagam SM, K S SV, R S, Matchado MS, Muthurajan R, Shetty AP, Kanna RM, K D. Uncovering molecular targets for regenerative therapy in degenerative disc disease: do small leucine-rich proteoglycans hold the key? Spine J. 2021 Jan;21(1):5-19. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2020.04.011. Epub 2020 Apr 25. PMID: 32344061.
17. Rajasekaran S, Thangavel C, Djuric N, Raveendran M, Soundararajan DCR, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Sri Vijay Anand KS, Venkateshwaran K. Profiling extra cellular matrix associated proteome of human fetal nucleus pulposus in search for regenerative targets. Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 24;11(1):19013. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-97620-w. PMID: 34561485; PMCID: PMC8463528.
18. S. Rajasekaran, Tangavel Chitraa, S Dilip Chand Raja, M. Raveendran, Nayagam Sharon Miracle, K.S.Sri Vijayanand, Ajoy Prasad Shetty, Rishi Mugesh Kanna. Subclinical infection can be an initiator of inflammaging leading to degenerative disk disease: evidence from host-defense response mechanisms. Eur Spine J. 2021 Sep;30(9):2586-2604. doi: 10.1007/s00586-021-06826-z. Epub 2021 Apr 9. PMID: 33835272
19. Djuric N, Rajasekaran S, Tangavel C, Raveendran M, Soundararajan DCR, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Anand KSSV, Shetty AP, Kanna RM. Influence of endplate avulsion and Modic changes on the inflammation profile of herniated discs: a proteomic and bioinformatic approach. Eur Spine J. 2022 Feb;31(2):389-399. doi:10.1007/s00586-021-06989-9. Epub 2021 Oct 5. PMID: 34611718.
20. Shanmuganathan R, Tangavel C, K S SVA, Muthurajan R, Nayagam SM, Matchado MS, Rajendran S, Kanna RM, Shetty AP. Comparative metagenomic analysis of human intervertebral disc nucleus pulposus and cartilaginous end plates. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Sep 28;9:927652. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.927652. PMID: 36247458; PMCID: PMC9554234.
21. Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran, Chitraa Tangavel, Sri Vijay Anand KS;, Dilip Chand Soundararajan, Sharon Miracle Nayagam, Sunmathi R, Raveendran Muthurajan, Ajoy Shetty, Rishi Kanna, Pushpa BT. Can Scoliotic Discs be Controls for Molecular Studies in Intervertebral Disc Research?- Insights from Proteomics. Global Spine J. 2022 May;12(4):598-609. doi:10.1177/2192568220959038. Epub 2020 Sep 18.PMID: 32945197
22. S Rajasekaran, Dilip Chand Raja, Chitraa Tangavel, Sharon Miracle Nayagam, Sri Vijay Anand KS, Sunmathi R, Monica Steffi Matchado, M Raveendran, Ajoy Prasad Shetty, Rishi Mugesh Kanna, Modic Changes are Associated with Activation of Intense Inflammatory and Host Defense Pathways – Molecular Insights from Proteomic Analysis of Human Intervertebral Discs. Spine J. 2022 Jan;22(1):19-38. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2021.07.003. Epub 2021 Jul 22.PMID: 34303868.
23. Rajasekaran S, Soundararajan DCR, Nayagam SM, Tangavel C, Raveendran M, K S SVA, Shetty AP, Kanna RM. Novel Biomarkers of Health and Degeneration in Human Intervertebral Discs: In-depth Proteomic Analysis of Collagen Framework of Fetal, Healthy, Scoliotic, Degenerate, and Herniated Discs. Asian Spine J. 2023 Feb;17(1):17-29. doi: 10.31616/asj.2021.0535. Epub 2022 Apr 18. PMID: 35421910; PMCID: PMC9977988.
24. Rajasekaran S, Vasudevan G, Easwaran M, Devi Ps N, Anand K S SV, Muthurajan R, Tangavel C, Murugan C, B T P, Shetty AP, Kanna RM. "Are we barking up the wrong tree? Too much emphasis on Cutibacterium acnes and ignoring other pathogens"- a study based on next-generation sequencing of normal and diseased discs. Spine J. 2023 Oct;23(10):1414-1426. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2023.06.396. Epub 2023 Jun 25. PMID: 37369253.
25. Rajasekaran S, Tangavel C, Vasudevan G, Easwaran M, Muthurajan R, K S SVA, Murugan C, Nayagam SM, Kanna RM, Shetty AP. Bacteria in human lumbar discs - subclinical infection or contamination? Metabolomic evidence for colonization, multiplication, and cell-cell cross-talk of bacteria. Spine J. 2023 Jan;23(1):163-177. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2022.05.001. Epub 2022 May 13. PMID: 35569807.
26. Rajasekaran S, Vasudevan G, Tangavel C, Ramachandran K, Nayagam SM, Muthurajan R, Gopalakrishnan C, Anand SV, Shetty AP, Kanna RM. Does the gut microbiome influence disc health and disease? The interplay between dysbiosis, pathobionts, and disc inflammation: a pilot study. Spine J. 2024 Oct;24(10):1952-1963. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2024.06.020. Epub 2024 Jun 24. PMID: 38925301.
27. Sharon Miracle Nayagam, Karthik Ramachandran, Ganesh Selvaraj, R. Sunmathi, Murugesh Easwaran, Narmatha Devi Palraj, Sri Vijay Anand K.S, Raveendran Muthurajan, Chitraa Tangavel, S. Rajasekaran. Identification of extracellular matrix proteins in plasma as a potential biomarker for intervertebral disc degeneration. European Spine Journal 2024. Nov;33(11):4062-4075. doi:10.1007/s00586-024-08481-6. Epub 2024 Sep 20.
28. Soundarrajan D, Arunachalam D, Nayagam SM, Thangavel C, Rajasekaran S. Does the cartilage proteome differ between osteoarthritic knees with varus and valgus deformities? Insights from proteomic analysis. J Orthop. 2025 May 21;67:194-202. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2025.05.023. PMID: 41069392; PMCID: PMC12504827.
29. Vasudevan G, Ramachandran K, Tangavel C, Nayagam SM, Gopalakrishnan C, Muthurajan R, Sri Vijay Anand KS, Rajasekaran S. "Elucidating the immunomodulatory role of endocannabinoids in intervertebral disc degeneration". Eur Spine J. 2025 Jan;34(1):308-315. doi: 10.1007/s00586-024-08550-w. Epub 2024 Nov 14. PMID: 39542877.
30. Anand K S SV, Nayagam SM, Ramachandran K, Devi N, Tangavel C, Rajasekaran S. Exploring the role of Serpins as a potential molecular target in intervertebral disc degeneration. Eur Spine J. 2025 Oct;34(10):4592-4606. doi: 10.1007/s00586-025-09035-0. Epub 2025 Jun 9. PMID: 40488868.
31. Nayagam, S.M., Palraj, N.D., Eswaran, M. et al. Do microenvironmental changes in degenerative disc disease reflect in systemic circulation? A proteomic investigation. Clin Proteom 22, 48 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12014-025-09563-3