Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and estrogen hormone in osteoarthritic female patients.

Osteoarthritis of knee joints is a disease of old age in both sex. It is very common after the age of 40 years in elderly females or in postmenopausal phase of females. It is characterized by narrowing of space in joints due to inflammation. The exact mechanism of inflammation in this disease is not yet clear. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) may involve in onset of disease. The present study is being carried out in 130 female subject of age group 40-60 years suffering from osteoarthritis of knee joints and 50 normal healthy control female subjects. A correlation is made between TNF-α and estrogen and found significant inverse correlation (r<0.001), between TNF-α and estrogen hormone in osteoarthritic female patients as compared to normal healthy control female group.