Biomedical Research

Objective: Osteoarthritis is a serious threat to the health of patients. Biomarkers have important significance in the diagnosis of bone arthritis. Bone mineral density is one of the important indicators for the detection of bone joint inflammation, but its detection is time-consuming and laborious. MicroRNA regulates cancer and inflammation. This study was to investigate the potential value of biomarkers miRNA98b in the diagnosis of early osteoarthritis.

Methods: 69 cases of patients with osteoarthritis and 69 cases of healthy volunteers were regarded as research objects. Etidronate disodium had been continuously administrated for 4 w. The patient's bone density reached to the normal value which was regarded as effectiveness of the treatment. The miRNA98b level before and after therapy in blood cells of patients with osteoarthritis and healthy volunteers was detected by real time RT-PCR. The correlation between miRNA98b levels and osteoarthritis was analysed.

Results: mRNA level of miRNA98b in blood cells of patients with osteoarthritis was higher than that of healthy volunteers. After being continuously administrated for 2 w, mRNA of miRNA98b in blood cells decreased, there was no significant change in the level of miRNA98b in blood cells of healthy volunteers. The level of miRNA98b in the blood cells of patients with severe osteoarthritis is higher than that in the blood cells of patients with general osteoarthritis, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The level of miRNA98b in the blood cells of patients with osteoarthritis has a positive correlation with the severity of osteoarthritis.

Conclusion: MiRNA98b in blood cells of patients with osteoarthritis may be a potential biomarker for osteoarthritis. The level of miRNA98b was correlated with the severity of osteoarthritis.

Author(s): Qian Wang, Xiaoqing Ma, Zhongyang Xu, Weidong Zheng
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