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Biomarker Could Predict Severe Osteoarthritis

THURSDAY, July 30 (HealthDay News) -- Levels of a certain protein strongly predict the risk of hip and knee joint replacement as a result of severe osteoarthritis, a new study shows.

The research involved 912 healthy people in Italy, including 60 who had severe osteoarthritis that led to a knee or hip replacement between 1990 and 2005. Those with high levels of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) at the start of the study were most likely to undergo joint replacement, the study found. VCAM-1 is expressed on cells in the cartilage and connective tissue.

"The level of VCAM-1 emerged as a significant predictor of the risk of joint replacement due to severe OA, equaling or even surpassing the effects of age," wrote Georg Schett, of the University of Erlangen-Nuremburg in Germany, and his colleagues.

They also found that including VCAM-1 levels in risk prediction models led to more accurate classification of patients.

The study, which appears in the August issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, is the first to establish a laboratory biomarker for the risk of severe osteoarthritis, according to background information in a news release from the journal.

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