Research lead
Researchers at King's College London have discovered metabolomic biomarkers of cartilage breakdown, which could be used to make an early diagnosis of osteoarthritis.
“We hope that further research will lead to these two metabolite ratios being adopted into clinical practice, enabling doctors to diagnose the condition, or identify that osteoarthritis is developing at an earlier stage,” said Tim Spector, a senior author on the paper.
The approach could also be used to monitor the effectiveness of treatments for the condition. “At the moment we rely on X-rays and scans. Our dependence on these methods is a major obstacle to the development of new drugs for osteoarthritis,” Spector said.
The study was funded by the European Union’s Framework Programme 7 large collaborative project grant Treat-OA, the charity Arthritis Research UK and the Wellcome Trust.
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