Personalized medicine for osteoarthritis: where are we now?

Personalized medicine is a much talked about subject that is a timely and important development to healthcare in general and also specifically for patients affected by osteoarthritis. This review uses biomarker examples pertinent to osteoarthritis to highlight the current status of the field, while also highlighting probable future developments. It is not meant to be an exhaustive account. The BIPED(s) [Burden of disease, Investigative, Prognosis, Efficacy, Diagnosis (safety)] classification system is used to organize the discussion of examples. Biomarkers pertaining to burden, investigation, prognosis, efficacy, diagnosis and safety are highlighted. The examples are followed by a discussion of issues related to interpretation and application of biomarker results and approaches to solve the challenges interpretation faces, including graphical, mathematical and synthetic representations. Through this review, it is hoped that a better appreciation can be gained of the potential and pitfalls of personal medicine in the care of patients with osteoarthritis.