Osteoarthritis year in review 2019: biomarkers (biochemical markers)

Abstract

Objective: To provide an insightful summary of studies on biochemical markers for osteoarthritis (OA).

Design: Two investigators systematically searched the electronic PubMed database for clinical studies into soluble biochemical markers for OA in humans that were published between 01-03-2018 and 01-03-2019. Data from selected publications were systematically extracted and tabulated and were summarized in a narrative review.

Results: Out of 1,279 publications, 124 fulfilled all selection criteria and were selected for data extraction. The majority were around knee OA, cross-sectional in design, relatively small, and/or focused on one or a few biochemical markers. Among the intervention studies, relatively many were on non-pharmacological interventions, used clinical outcomes and/or were rather short. Some leads that were provided by this year's studies pertained to less conventional inflammatory mediators, oxidative stress, acidosis, angiogenesis and/or autoantibody formation.

Conclusions: This year's biochemical marker studies did provide potential leads for therapeutic targets or other biochemical marker applications that require robust and strategic follow-up research to be validated.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Diagnosis; Osteoarthritis; Prognosis; Review; Trial.