Changes of serum inflammatory factors and miR-145 expression in patients with osteoarthritis before and after treatment and their clinical value

BACKGROUND Osteoarthritis is a chronic degenerative disease with an incidence of 50% in people over 65 years old and 80% in people over 80 years old worldwide. It is the second leading reason of loss of working capacity after cardiovascular diseases and severely affects the society and families. Therefore, finding biological markers related to the diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis is of great significance in clinical practice. AIM To observe the changes and clinical value of serum inflammatory factors and miR-145 expression in patients with osteoarthritis before and after treatment. METHODS Eighty-three patients with knee osteoarthritis (observation group) who were admitted to our hospital from April 2013 to June 2015, and 60 healthy people (control group) during the same period were selected. After 4 wk of treatment, the levels of miR-145, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 were compared between the control group and the observation group before treatment. The correlation of miR-145, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 levels with visual analogue scale (VAS), Lysholm, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores was assessed by Pearson correlation analysis. The correlation of the expression of miR-145, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 with Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grades was assessed by Spearman correlation analysis. The critical levels of miR-145, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-10 in distinguishing different K-L grades were determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS The expression level of miR-145 in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group before treatment (P < 0.05). After treatment, the expression level of miR-145 in the observation group was significantly lower than that before treatment (P < 0.05). The levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05), and the level of IL-10 was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). After treatment, the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 in the observation group were significantly lower than those before treatment (P < 0.05), and IL-I0 level was significantly higher than that before treatment (P < 0.05). VAS and WOMAC scores were both positively correlated with miR-145, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 (P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with IL-10 (P < 0.05), while Lysholm scores were negatively correlated with miR-145, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 (P < 0.05), and positively correlated with IL-10 (P < 0.05). K-L grades were positively correlated with miR-145, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 (P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with IL-10 (P < 0.05). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) and specificity of TNF-alpha in differentiating K-L grades I-II were the highest, which were 0.785 and 97.45%, respectively, and miR145 had the highest sensitivity of 94.59%; the AUC and sensitivity of IL-6 in differentiating K-L grades II-III were the highest, which were 0.766 and 97.30%, respectively, and TNF-alpha had the highest specificity of 86.68%. CONCLUSION MiR-145 and inflammatory factors have certain diagnostic value in osteoarthritis, and they are expected to become potential indicators for the diagnosis and evaluation of osteoarthritis in the future.