Cumulative loading, degradation biomarker weakly associated with knee cartilage thickness
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Mechanical load plus a biomarker that reflects cartilage degradation may predict worsening cartilage thickness in knee osteoarthritis, according to a speaker at the 2021 OARSI World Congress.
“We are motivated to look at the relationship between mechanics of biochemical biomarkers and knee cartilage outcomes,” Natasha Ivanochko, PhD, of the department of kinesiology and health sciences at the University of Waterloo, in Canada, said in her presentation.
According to Ivanochko, previous research has demonstrated associations between cumulative load and worsening knee cartilage morphology. In the current study, the researchers aimed to understand potential relationships between physical activity, biochemical biomarkers, T2 relaxation times, collagen and cartilage degradation and inflammation as a function of OA progression.
Independent variables associated with loading included Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE), BMI and the interaction between PASE and BMI.
The biomarkers included in the model were Cartilage Oligometric Matrix Protein (COMP) and Coll2-1 NO2.
“COMP reflects cartilage degradation,” Ivanochko said, and noted that Coll2-1 NO2 is associated with type II collagen degradation.
The analysis included a biomarkers model, a cumulative loading model and a model that included both biomarkers and cumulative loading.
The average age of the participants was 63.7 years and 57% were women, while BMI data showed that most were “in the obese category,” according to Ivanochko.
Results demonstrated that cumulative loading and biochemical biomarker concentration were unrelated to 2-year change in cartilage thickness.
There were, however, significant findings for the medial femur region.
“The addition of PASE improved the ability of the model to predict change in T2 relaxation time over the covariates only model,” Ivanochko said. “But it is also noteworthy that baseline T2 relaxation time was the strongest predictor of changes in cartilage quality in the regions of interest.”
In the medial tibia region, the addition of PASE and BMI was a better predictor of T2 relaxation time than the covariates-only model. Similarly, in the lateral tibia region, the addition of PASE, BMI and COMP to the model improved the ability of the model to predict T2 relaxation time.
At this point, Ivanochko noted that previous work has shown that cumulative loading can predict loss of cartilage volume, but not cartilage thickness.
“We did find that cumulative loading was related with 2-year change in T2 relaxation time within the medial femur and medial lateral tibia regions,” she said, noting that both PASE and BMI helped improve the model.
“This, along with other work examining physical activity, suggests that overloading, as well as underloading, may be associated with worse knee cartilage health,” Ivanochko said. “We found that cumulative loading and the COMP biomarker had a weak relationship with 2-year change in T2.”
Despite these findings, Ivanochko stressed that the results of the study are “of questionable clinical significance,” and recommended further study into these associations.
Collapse
Ivanochko N. Predicting change in knee cartilage from interactions of cumulative loading with cartilage turnover biomarkers: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative. Presented at: OARSI 2022 World Congress on Osteoarthritis; April 7-10; Berlin, Germany (virtual meeting).
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts