Serum Biomarkers for Connective Tissue and Basement Membrane Remodeling are Associated with Vertebral Endplate Bone Marrow Lesions as Seen on MRI (Modic Changes)

Dudli, Stefan; Ballatori, Alexander; Bay-Jensen, Anne-Christine; McCormick, Zachary L; O'Neill, Conor W; Demir-Deviren, Sibel; Krug, Roland; Heggli, Irina; Juengel, Astrid; Karppinen, Jaro; Brunner, Florian; Farshad, Mazda; Distler, Oliver; Lotz, Jeffrey C; Fields, Aaron J

doi:10.3390/ijms21113791

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Dudli, S., Ballatori, A., Bay-Jensen, A.-C., McCormick, Z. L., O’Neill, C. W., Demir-Deviren, S., Krug, R., Heggli, I., Juengel, A., Karppinen, J., Brunner, F., Farshad, M., Distler, O., Lotz, J. C., & Fields, A. J. (2020). Serum Biomarkers for Connective Tissue and Basement Membrane Remodeling are Associated with Vertebral Endplate Bone Marrow Lesions as Seen on MRI (Modic Changes). International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(11), E3791. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21113791

Abstract

Vertebral endplate bone marrow lesions, visualized on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as Modic changes (MC), are associated with chronic low back pain (cLBP). Since guidelines recommend against routine spinal MRI for cLBP in primary care, MC may be underdiagnosed. Serum biomarkers for MC would allow early diagnosis, inform clinical care decisions, and supplement treatment monitoring. We aimed to discover biomarkers in the blood serum that correlate with MC pathophysiological processes. For this single-site cross-sectional study, we r