Recent advances in biomarkers in osteoarthritis.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Osteoarthritis is a joint disease characterized by a nonsymptomatic, preradiographical phase that if distinguished would allow earlier osteoarthritis diagnosis. Biochemical biomarkers offer a potential nonradiographical alternative to detect early, nonsymptomatic osteoarthritis.

RECENT FINDINGS: Biomarker development for osteoarthritis diagnosis is still in the forefront of the research repertoire in osteoarthritis. A number of previously identified biomarkers derived from cartilage breakdown or enzymes that cause cartilage degeneration still have prominence and are now better characterized with increasing use in identifying disease severity, progression, and testing treatment options. Combinations of cartilage-derived and bone-derived biomarkers have been used to subgroup osteoarthritis patients that could impact treatment and address the importance of bone turnover in cartilage integrity. Increasingly, inflammation markers have been used to profile osteoarthritis progression attesting to the inflammatory nature of osteoarthritis. The application of proteomic technologies has generated several new, nonconventional biomarkers that could allow better profiling of osteoarthritis.

SUMMARY: Biomarker combinations have the ability to subgroup the heterogenous osteoarthritis population to allow a better scrutiny of diagnosis and treatment options. The application of different technological platforms to osteoarthritis would allow a better understanding of its pathology and could provide for appropriate candidates for earlier detection of osteoarthritis.