Source: Bone  |  Posted 9 years ago

The correlation between total peptide bound or free collagen crosslinks is different in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthrosis and psoriatic arthritis, researchers in Germany have found.

However, this variation does not allow for a reliable differentiation between inflammatory and degenerative joint diseases, suggest these investigators.

To investigate urinary fractions of free and peptide forms of collagen crosslinks in different skeletal diseases, Dr. A Muller and colleagues from University of Jena, in Jena, and Germany Helios Hospital Erfurt, in Erfurt, enrolled 50 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 38 with osteoarthrosis, 38 with psoriatic arthritis, and 50 healthy volunteers. Thirty-three were adults and 17 were children.

Using high performance liquid chromatography, the researchers found that pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline Fractions were significantly increased in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared with osteoarthritis and psoriatic arthritis patients as well as healthy controls. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline correlated with disease activity, and collagen degradation resulted in primarily peptide bound forms.

Although the correlation between total peptide bound or free collagen crosslinks differs among the three chronic joint diseases, the variation seen in this study does not allow for reliable differentiation between inflammatory and degenerative joint disease, the authors conclude.