CLINICAL, BIOMOLECULAR AND IMMUNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

Introduction. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a slowly progressive disorder characterized by a gradual loss of articular cartilage. The OA classification is mainly based on clinical and radiographic evaluations, using the Knee Society Score (AKSS) and the Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) scale. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in frzb, matn3,aspn, pthr2, gdf5 and dvwa genes are involved in OA susceptibility. However, very few studies in Caucasian people describe the association between KL grading scale and genetical alterations. In this study we assessed the associations between KL grade, clinical features,SNPs and inflammatory mediators in Sicilian individuals Methods. We enrolled 66 patients with …