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OBJECTIVES: To investigate cross-sectional associations between serum levels of resistin and interleukin-17 (IL-17) and cartilage defects and bone marrow lesions (BMLs) in patients with knee symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: One hundred and ninety-four consecutively-selected patients with knee symptomatic OA (mean 55.4 years, range 34-74, 87% females) were included in Anhui Osteoarthritis (AHOA) Study. Knee cartilage defects and BMLs were determined at different sites using T2-weighted fat-suppressed fast spin echo MRI. Serum resistin, IL-17, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels were measured using ELISA. RESULTS: In multivariable analyses, serum resistin was positively associated with cartilage defects at lateral femoral, lateral tibial, and medial tibial (all p 2.45 pg/ml), IL-17 was positively and significantly associated with cartilage defect score at nearly all sites (ORs: 1.33-1.44, all p < 0.05), and BMLs at lateral and medial femoral sites (ORs: 1.26-1.51, both p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Serum levels of resistin were positively and independently associated with cartilage defects and BMLs in patients with knee OA. Serum IL-17 was significantly associated with cartilage defects and BMLs in patients with an increased inflammatory status. These suggest that metabolic and inflammatory mechanisms may have a role to play in knee OA.
Wang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.