Biomarkers in osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) can be a progressive disabling disease, which results from the pathological imbalance of degradative and reparative processes, with concomitant inflammatory changes. The synovium, bone, and cartilage are each well established sites involved in the pathophysiological mechanisms that lead to progressive joint degeneration. The search for disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs, DMOADs, has been hampered by several factors, including the variable progression of disease, the lack of specificity and sensitivity of standard radiography, and the fact that the slowing of radiographic progression may not result in corresponding improvement in pain and function. As a result, there is general agreement that development of DMOADs will be facilitated by advances in imaging and the validation of chemical biomarkers. Such biomarkers should be useful tools that will identify patients at risk for disease progression and predict responses to candidate structure-modifying drugs.