| Objective To investigate if serum cytokine ligand 3(CCL3) levels correlated with disease severity in postmenopausal osteoporotic women. Methods Eighty-two postmenopausal osteoporotic women, 76 postmenopausal non-osteoporotic women, and 80 healthy women of childbearing age were recruited. Bone mineral density of the total hip, femoral neck, and L1-L4 spine was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Serum CCL3 level was examined using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Serum inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and the bone metabolic markers, carboxy-terminal crosslinked and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b were also examined. Visual analogue scale and the Oswestry disability index were utilized to assess the clinical severity. Results Patients in the postmenopausal osteoporotic group had significantly increased serum CCL3 levels compared with those in both the postmenopausal non-osteoporotic group (40.9±15.1 pg/mL vs 24.2±8.7 pg/mL, P<0.001) and control group (40.9±15.1 pg/mL vs 23.9±9.1 pg/mL, P<0.001). Serum CCL3 levels were negatively correlated with bone mineral density at the total hip (r=-0.345, P =0.002), femoral neck (r=-0.329, P=0.003), and L1-L4 lumbar spine (r=-0.354, P=0.001),but were positively correlated with visual analogue scale scores (r=0.413, P<0.001) and the Oswestry disability index (r=0.360, P<0.001). Moreover, serum CCL3 levels were closely correlated with increased tumor necrosis factor-alpha (r=0.305, P=0.005), interleukin-6 (r=0.288, P=0.008), tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (r=0.371, P<0.001), and carboxy-terminal crosslinked (r=0.317, P=0.004) levels. All correlations were still significant after adjusting for both body mass index and age. Conclusion CCL3 may be a useful biomarker that can be used to predict disease severity of postmenopausal osteoporosis. |