Intra-articular injection therapy of MR-20S (ulinastatin) for osteoarthritis of the knee joint

Effect on joint markers

Abstract

Intra-articular injections of MR-20S (ulinastatin, urinary trypsin inhibitor) were performed for 16 knee joints of 16 patients (6 males, 10 females, average age 65.1±8.2) with osteoarthritis (OA) .
Levels of 7 joint markers in the synovial fluids were measured before and after injection therapy. Levels of chondroitin 4-sulfate (C-4S), 6-sulfate (C-6S) and hyaluronic acid (HA) were measured using HPLC. Levels of type II procollagen C-peptide (pCOL II-C), MMP-3, TIMP-1 and PMN elastase were measured by ETA. Levels of pCOL II-C increased significantly after injections (p<0.01) . In the patients with C-4S levels of≥15 nmol/ml or C-6S levels of≥40 nmol/ml before injection, these chondroitin isomers decreased significantly (p<0.01) . No significant changes of HA, MMP-3, TIMP-1 and PMN elastase levels were observed after injection.
The present data suggested that intra-articular injection of MR-20S might affect the metabolism of cartilage and synovium in OA.