A Preliminary Study of Combined Detection of COMP, TIMP-1, and MMP-3 in Synovial Fluid: Potential Indicators of Osteoarthritis Progression.

Objective: Osteoarthritis (OA) commonly affects weight-bearing joints and is characterized by articular cartilage breakdown combined with osteophyte formation at the joint margins and chronic nonspecific inflammation of synovium. Understanding the profile of inflammation in a patient population is an essential starting point to predict or prevent OA progression. The aim of this study was to identify the profile of selected biomolecules in synovial fluid (SF) and investigate the correlation according to gender, age, and severity of the disease within patients from among the general knee OA population.

Design: In our study SF samples were aspirated from the knees of 65 OA patients (46 patients with early knee OA and 19 patients with end-stage knee OA according to the Kellgren-Lawrence grading scale). The concentration of interleukins (IL-6, IL-8), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-13), MMPs inhibitors (TIMP-1, TIMP-2), cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), and adiponectin was analyzed using a multiplex ELISA-based approach.

Conclusions: Our results indicate significant linear correlation of MMP-13 and COMP concentration with age ( < 0.05), but not with OA severity. In fact, 3 of the examined biomolecules, MMP-3 ( < 0.01), TIMP-1 ( < 0.01), and COMP ( < 0.05) significantly correlate with the grade of knee OA and might be associated with OA severity.