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Correlation of concentrations of activin A with occurrence and severity of knee osteoarthritis
Lixue Zou1, Jun Liu, Hougen Lu
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Jingzhou Central Hospital, Jingzhou 434020, Hubei Province, China.
Background:
Activin A plays as an anticatabolic autocrine cytokine in articular cartilage. Thus, this study aims to evaluate whether activin Aconcentration is correlated with the occurrence and severity of knee osteoarthritis (OA).
Methods:
A total of 210 knee OA patients and 150 healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional study, to evaluate the severity of OA by Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grading method.
Results:
It was found that the concentration of activin A in knee OA group was higher than that in healthy subjects. Furthermore, results of of activin A concentration in serum and synovial fluid (SF) suggested that activin A concentration was the highest in Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade 4, and the lowest in KL grade 2. Concentrations of activin A in serum and SF showed significant correlation with disease severity measured by KL grading criteria.
Conclusions:
It was indicated that concentrations of activin A in serum and SF showed a positive correlation with the occurrence and severity of knee OA.
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