Clinical and Biological Signature of Osteochondritis Dissecans in a Cross-Sectional Study

The healing potential of knee osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) focal lesions is not well defined. We performed a cross-sectional study correlating local and systemic biological characteristics with the patients' characteristics. We evaluated both local tissue markers (CD34, CD146, CD166, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP)) and systemic serum biomarkers (fragments or propeptide of type II collagen: C2C, CTX-II, CPII, and TRAP5b) on histologically scored osteochondral fragments or serum from OCD patients. These biological features were associated with the patients' characteristics (IKDC subjective score, age, and body mass index (BMI)). Histological cartilage tissue score correlated with patients' IKDC and C2C and CPII biomarkers. CPII correlated also with histological bone tissue score. The percentage of CD146 positive cells in cartilage and CD34 positive cells in bone highly correlated with the patient's age and BMI, respectively. The percentage of TRAP in bone was directly correlated with both IKDC and age. Multivariate statistical analysis evidenced that only four parameters significantly predicted IKDC. In conclusion, a complete picture of OCD knee characteristics, defined by local and systemic markers of cartilage and bone remodeling, together with the patients' characteristics, might help to better understand the healing potential of each patient and to target and improve current OCD treatments.