Biochemical Markers For The Management Of Rheumatoid Arthritis And Osteoarthritis

A review of novel biomarkers of cartilage synthesis and degradation for clinical and pre-clinical use.

Specific cartilage degradative and biosynthetic events are described in this paper that plays a key role in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. These events can be identified and quantified using novel immunoassays that detect the molecular products of these events in various body fluids and tissues, such as synovial fluid, serum, urine and cartilage. Reviewed and summarized are the most recent clinical and pre-clinical data on immunoassays detecting and quantifying biochemical markers for cartilage degradation (CTX-II, C2C, C1,2C and COMP) and cartilage synthesis (CPII, CS846 and YKL-40). It is shown that the enormous scientific progress in the field of arthritis has opened new possibilities for early diagnosis of disease and disease severity (extent of joint destruction), prediction of disease progression and rapid assessment of the efficacy of therapy. Moreover, the availability of these new biomarkers will dramatically enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of drug discovery programs and subsequent clinical trials.

Finally, based on the current state of knowledge (published clinical studies) the possibilities for clinical and research use of the new markers have been summarized in a Clinical Summary Chart and an Arthritis Biomarker Quick Reference Chart.

Review Paper (pdf-File, 801 KB)