A recent report published by Zhou et al in Science Advances has found a set of 15 biomarkers corresponding to 13 proteins that showed a high rate of accurate prediction of disease progression in osteoarthritis, in terms of structural and pain progression. The set reached an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 73% for distinguishing progressors from nonprogressors in a 600-patient cohort. This model showed more success than currently used predictors of progression, like pain assessment or urine-based biomarker tests. The study authors concluded, “In summary, this study successfully detected a combination of biomarkers, which effectively discriminated clinically relevant knee osteoarthritis progressors from nonprogressors using a patient-friendly biospecimen, serum…. These results also provide a basis for future development of means of identifying individuals most in need of surveillance and disease-modifying therapies.”
May 25, 2023