ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:It is confirmed that the onset of osteoarthritis is closely related to inflammatory cytokines. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the levels of interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 in the synovial fluid of patients with osteoarthritis and their correlation with the severity of osteoarthritis. METHODS: Synovial fluid specimens of 78 patients were harvested to detect the levels of interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 using ELISA assay. The severity of osteoarthritis was estimated by the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score. Pearson correlation analysis was adopted to explore the pairwise correlations between interleukin-6, matrix metaloproteinase-3 and HSS score. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The levels of interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 in the synovial fluid were (13.1±5.7) and (989.3±429.5) μg/L, respectively; the HSS score was (56.4±12.0) points. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the expression levels of interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 had a significant positive correlation (r=0.70,P< 0.001); the levels of interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 had a negative correlation with the HSS scores (r=-0.70,r=-0.75,P < 0.001). Experimental findings show that there is a positive correlation between interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 in the synovial fluids, and these two cytokines also have a positive correlation with the severity of osteoarthritis, indicating that to measure interleukin-6 and matrix metaloproteinase-3 levels in the synovial fluids of osteoarthritis patients is important for early diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis.