The evolving role of biomarkers for osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an increasingly important public health concern as the prevalence of this disease becomes higher and higher due to the ageing population. However, in addition to the absence of disease-modifying treatments, there are no sensitive diagnostic techniques beyond classical radiography, and physicians cannot predict who will progress with the disease. As a result, disease progression cannot be prevented or halted. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more effective techniques than radiography. Reliable, quantitative and dynamic tests to detect early damage and measure the progress of treatments targeted against joint destruction are required. Biomarkers, in addition to magnetic resonance imaging, are tools that can address these therapeutic shortcomings. Structural molecules and fragments derived from bone, cartilage and the synovium, all of which are affected by OA, have been reported to be potential candidates for biomarkers of OA. As the identification of biomarkers that can be applied more broadly from the very early to the end stages of knee OA is required, advances in the OA biomarker field remain challenging, but steadily progressive. Such advances will come not only from basic, but also preclinical and clinical research. In this review, we highlight recent OA biomarker studies generally published between 2011 and 2012. We classified the studies in this review into the following three categories: unique characteristics of the urinary level of C-terminal telopeptide of type II collagen; insight into the pathophysiology of OA revealed by biochemical biomarkers; and candidates for novel biomarkers of OA revealed by proteomics.