Arthritis & Rheumatism 07/21/2015
Attur M, et al.
Inflammatory mediators, such as PGE2 and IL–1β, are produced by osteoarthritic joint tissues, where they may contribute to disease pathogenesis. The authors examined whether inflammation, reflected in plasma and peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) reflected presence of osteoarthritis (OA), progression or symptoms in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (SKOA). Inflammatory plasma lipid biomarkers PGE2 and 15–HETE identify patients with SKOA. PBL inflammatory transcriptome identifies a subset of SKOA patients at higher risk for radiographic progression. These findings may reflect low–grade inflammation in OA and may be useful as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in clinical development of disease–modifying OA drugs.