Biomarkers for Osteoarthritis - Will They Finally Be Embedded in Clinical Practice?
A new study published in Rheumatology International has investigated three of the most studied candidate biomarkers for osteoarthritis (OA), altogether with CRP. Cartilage oligomeric protein (COMP), matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) and Coll2-1 reflects joint remodeling in a different way. The first is a specific matrix non-collagenous protein, the second is a endopeptidase that play role in cartilage destruction, while the third is a peptide of the alpha-helical region of type II collagen.
87 participants took part in the study – 56 patients with knee osteoarthritis and 31 controls. They had a significant difference in age, as the authors explained this by stating that OA was age-related disease and there were no volunteers older than 60 who did not experience knee pain in the last 1 year or did not have any other signs of knee OA. All the patients were asked to fill in validated questionnaires (WOMAC, HAQ-DI, Lequesne). They were assessed by X-ray and MRI. Using ELISA kits serum COMP, MMP-3 and Coll2-1 levels were quantified.
Patients had significantly higher levels of COMP and MMP-3. Greater serum levels of COMP was also observed in patients with more advanced radiographic stages of knee OA. On the other hand, MMP-3 was found to correspond to OA generalization. COMP also correlated with semi-quantitative MRI score (WORMS), which reflected whole organ knee damage, and with MMP-3.
Disappointingly, Coll2-1 did not correlate with any clinical or imaging parameters.
COMP was a biomarker that represented knee structural changes, while MMP-3 was more prominent in patients with polyarticular OA.
Reference:
Georgiev, T., Ivanova, M., Kopchev, A., Velikova, T., Miloshov, A., Kurteva, E., ... & Stoilov, R. (2017). Cartilage oligomeric protein, matrix metalloproteinase-3, and Coll2-1 as serum biomarkers in knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study. Rheumatology International, 1-10.Tags: osteoarthritis, biomarkers