Leukocytes as a Potential Biomarker for Osteoarthritis

Abstract

O steoarthritis is the most common type of adult joint disease, and is increasing in frequency and severity. Although osteoarthritis is commonly described as non-inflammatory joint disease, synovial inflammation is increasingly recognized as contributing to the symptoms and progression of osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis pathophysiology is complex. However, these inflammatory processes were interpreted mainly as a bystander, and not as a driving force in osteoarthritis pathogenesis. A set of new studies has raised interest in this topic and aimed to map these inflammatory processes more precisely. Studies have shown that patients with inflammation show faster osteoarthritis progression, confirming the hypothesis that inflammation has an impact on disease progression A major problem in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tissue into defects and being essentially avascular. Microscopic examination in early osteoarthritis revealed for more than half of patients with synovial biopsy through arthroscopic technique having synovitis lesions with mononuclear infiltrates, diffuse fibrosis, thickening of the lining layer, macrophages appearance and vessels neoformation as well.