Correlation of serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein with knee osteoarthritis diagnosis: a meta-analysis

The measurement of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) has become a novel way for the diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, no conclusive correlation has been drawn between COMP and knee OA. The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of serum COMP as biomarker for knee OA and its relation with disease severity.

A systematic search on PubMed, ScienceDirect, and EMBASE was conducted in January 2018 using certain keywords. Initial search yielded a total of 285 publications, and 35 articles were reviewed in full-text. Eventually, nine studies were included in the analysis. All the retrieved studies used Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) classification for knee OA and provided available data of serum COMP in OA patients and healthy controls. Sensitivity analysis was performed by removing one study result at a time to detect the impact of each study have on the overall effect and to test the stability of the cumulative result. Subgroup study based on K-L grade system was also conducted to disclose the correlation between serum COMP and knee OA disease severity.

Pooled analysis of nine studies demonstrated a significant elevation of serum COMP in knee OA patients (SMD 0.81, [95% CI, 0.36, 1.25], P = 0.0004) compared with controls. In comparisons between K-L 1-4 and controls, significantly higher serum COMP was detected in all three subgroups except K-L grade 1 versus control. Comparisons among K-L grades 1-4 revealed significantly higher serum COMP levels in patients with more serious than less serious disease stage. However, the elevation in patients with K-L grade 3 did not reach statistical significance when compared with K-L grade 1 patients.

The overall analysis showed significantly higher serum COMP in knee OA patients compared to controls which indicate the potential ability of serum COMP in differentiating knee OA patients from healthy subjects. Pooled statistic of our meta-analysis showed that serum COMP levels were effective in distinguishing patients with K-L ≥ 2.