NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - An ELISA that measures type II collagen helical peptide (HELIX-II) in urine can clearly distinguish patients with knee osteoarthritis and early rheumatoid arthritis from healthy controls, researchers report.
Type II collagen degradation is a specific indicator of cartilage destruction and is the hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. The HELIX-II ELISA “helps identify early arthritis patients who are at high risk of rapidly progressive joint destruction and therefore in need of aggressive structure-modifying therapy,” said Dr. Patrick Garnero, of Synarc in Lyon, France, the developer of the ELISA.
Dr. Garnero’s group measured urinary levels of HELIX-II and C-terminal crosslinking telopeptide for type II collagen (CTX-II), another promising marker of type II collagen breakdown, in 90 patients with knee osteoarthritis, 89 with early rheumatoid arthritis, 25 with Paget’s disease of bone, and 162 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
Median urinary HELIX-II levels were 56% higher in patients with knee osteoarthritis and 123% higher in the patients with early rheumatoid arthritis compared with controls and patients with Paget’s disease.
Elevated HELIX-II levels were highly predictive of radiographic rheumatoid arthritis progression, the team also reports in the April issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism. The odds ratio for rheumatoid arthritis progression was 5.9 in patients with baseline urinary HELIX-II levels in the highest tertile, after adjusting for serum CRP, and baseline joint damage.
The odds ratio for rheumatoid arthritis progression was 17.5 in patients with increased concentrations of both HELIX-II and CTX-II in urine.
HELIX-II “appears to provide information about type II collagen degradation processes that is both additional and complementary to that provided by urinary CTX-II, suggesting that it may be useful, either alone or in combination with CTX-II, for the clinical investigation of patients with osteoarthritis and for predicting disease progression in rheumatoid arthritis,” the team concludes.
Source: Arthritis Rheum 2005;52:1081-1090. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:Biological Factors: Immunologic and Biological Factors: Biological Markers: Chemical Actions and Uses: Chemical Actions: Chemicals and DrugsCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
