The Expression And Significance Of OPN In The Articular Synovium Of Human Knee Osteoarthritis

Objective:To investigate osteopontin (OPN) levels in synovium of different severity patients with primary knee osteoarthritis (OA) and their relationship with severity of the disease.Method:Twenty-seven patients aged 17～69 years with knee OA and 7 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Anteroposterior knee radiographs or/and synthetical scored method were taken to determine the disease severity of the affected knee. The grading of OA in the knee was performed by using the synthetical scored method. OPN levels in synovial membrane were measured using immunohistochemistry methods, and then the expression result statistics were analysed by SPSS16.0.Results:Compared to healthy controls, OA patients had higher OPN concentration in synovial membrane (control group 0.0936±0.0114; mild group 0.1460±0.0230; moderate group 0.1505±0.0223; serious groups 0.1906±0.0510, P<0.05). In addition, synovial membrane OPN levels showed a positive correlation with the grade of pathogenesis positively. Subsequent analysis showed that synovial membrane OPN levels significantly correlated with severity of disease (Spearman's p=0.663,P<0.01).Conclusions 1. OPN in the normal synovial joint and knee joint were expressed, the expression of osteoarthritis group was significantly higher, suggesting that OPN may be associated with the pathogenesis of OA.2. The expression of OPN with the onset and progression of OA significantly enhanced, which was positively correlated with OA progression, suggesting that OPN may promote the progression of OA.