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Study identifies serum biomarkers linked with severity of lumbar disc degeneration
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In a cross-sectional study of Chinese participants, researchers from Finland and China found that elevated serum biomarker ratios of tyrosine lactate and valine to histidine were significantly associated with lumbar disc degeneration.
“This is the first study, to my knowledge, that addresses serum metabolomics with regards to the relationship of lumbar disc degeneration, and this gives us a much greater depth of knowledge looking at the molecular descent of disc degeneration,” Dino Samartzis, PhD, said at The International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine Meeting, here. “We have identified some interesting serum biomarkers related to early as well as moderate to severe disc degeneration.”
Dino Samartzis
Samartzis and colleagues used their population database cohort study of 3,500 Chinese volunteers that included participants’ MRIs, genetic profiles and environmental and lifestyle factors related to disc degeneration and low back pain to assess the serum metabolomic profiles of the first 810 individuals. The researchers used Schneiderman radiographic criteria to assess disc degeneration from L1 to S1 and obtained a summated score to determine patients’ global severity of disc degeneration. The participants had a mean age of 51 years and 61% were women.
The investigators found 77% of the participants had some type of disc degeneration.
“However, approximately 20% had moderate or severe disc degeneration,” Samartzis said.
An analysis of participants based on their severity of disc degeneration revealed an association with different serum types and lactate ratios.
“We saw something interesting, that with an increase in lumbar disc degeneration, we saw an increased trend in these levels of tyrosine lactate on a systemic level utilizing a metabolomic approach,” Samartzis said.
He added, “Utilizing other types of statistical analysis looking at sensitivity and specificity of various markers related to the different types of lactate ratio, we found this marker of greater than 0.029 was significantly associated with moderate to severe forms of disc degeneration.”
In addition, the investigators discovered the valine to histidine ratio was significantly associated with moderate to severe forms of lumbar disc degeneration.
“This large-scale study and initiative provides the foundation for new and exciting research into assessing how our body's metabolic state can affect the spine,” Samartzis told Orthopedics Today. “Although further studies are needed, ‘Spino-Metabolomics’ has the potential to one day build on the concept of personalized spine care, and in that how it can be used for diagnostic, prognostic and novel therapeutic considerations to treat the disc and other spinal disorders.”
Reference:
Samartzis D. Paper #16. Presented at: The International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine Meeting. May 13-17, 2013; Scottsdale, Ariz.
Disclosure: Samartzis has no relevant financial disclosures.