Patent ID: 7662573

Claim:
A method of evaluating osteoarthritis (OA) risk in a human subject comprising: detecting expression of OA risk-related proteins in a serum sample of the subject, wherein the OA risk-related proteins comprise interleukin-15 (IL-15), matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7), plasminogen activating inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and soluble vascular adhesion protein 1 (sVAP-1), and comparing expression of the OA risk-related proteins in the subject sample to expression of the OA risk-related proteins in a normal control serum sample, wherein detecting an upregulation of at least IL-15, MMP-7 and sVAP-1 and downregulation of at least PAI-1 in the subject sample as compared to the normal sample indicates that the subject has an increased OA risk.