New research has uncovered biomarkers that serve as both diagnostic "fingerprints" for the risk of postmenopausal osteoporosis and predictors for osteoarthritis (OA) progression, according to findings presented Sunday at the 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research in Nashville, Tennessee. These biomarkers can be followed up by blood tests to better assess osteoporosis risk.

Using surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry to screen for biomarkers in the serum of 58 postmenopausal women with or without high bone turnover and osteoporosis, serum samples from 28 osteoporotic and 30 age-matched unaffected women were fractionated based on charge and SELDI spectra. In analysis, researchers were able to isolate peaks in the SELDI profile that clearly distinguished between the 2 groups of patients.¹ "This unique discriminatory profile reflects a diagnostic fingerprint of the multiple biomarkers that distinguish postmenopausal osteoporosis from normal postmenopausal nonosteoporotic controls," the authors concluded. The biomarkers could potentially provide a means of evaluating osteoarthritis and help in the diagnosis and follow-up of the disease.

"Instead of having to get a bone density scan, this fingerprint potentially has value in assessing osteoporosis and risk of fracture," lead researcher Larry Suva, PhD, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, tells CIAOMed.

While more research is needed to validate these findings, according to Dr. Suva, doctors may be able to screen for osteoporosis using simple blood tests such as the ones used to measure cholesterol and certain cancers. "In an ideal world, I envision it working like a pregnancy test," he says. Such tests measure beta levels in the serum of pregnant women to monitor the natural progression of pregnancy.

In related research by members of the same team, investigators screened serum from 31 end-stage osteoporosis patients who required hip replacement surgery and compared it with the serum of 30 age-matched osteoporosis-free patients.² Using SELDI, they were able to identify 22 peaks that separated the OA patients from the controls.

"This study has potentially identified a panel of biomarkers that represents a diagnostic fingerprint of risk factors and/or predictors of OA progression, which we will now seek to validate in patients earlier in disease progression," the researchers concluded, adding that "the identification of validated biomarkers will greatly accelerate therapeutic development for this major public health concern."

 References

1. Bhattacharyya S, Siegel E, Jennings S, Khosla S, Suva LJ. The discovery of new biomarkers for the diagnosis of osteoporosis: is SELDI the answer? Presented at: 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research; September 23-27, 2005; Nashville, Tennessee. Abstract SU150.

2. Bhattacharyya S, Siegel E, Findlay DM, et al. Biomarker discovery in osteoarthritis. Presented at: 27th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research; September 23-27, 2005; Nashville, Tennessee. Abstract SU153.