Novel biomarkers for improving outcomes for patients with chronic prosthetic joint infections

Each year approximately 10.000 patients undergo knee replacement prosthetic joint surgery in Denmark, most often due to severe arthritis. A 1-2% percent of these patients experience implant-associated infections causing pain, and loss of joint function, resulting in revision surgery and, if left untreated, sepsis. Thus, prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) pose a significant clinical and economic burden on both patients and society as well as reduced quality of life. There is a medical need for improved diagnostic tools to identify patients with a poor prognosis to aid better treatment options and reduce their long-term morbidity. We hypothesize that complex soluble biochemical liquid markers targeting tissue metabolites will help identify patients in risk with PJIs and support better diagnosis and treatment decision.
The project’s objectives
• To explore, identify and develop novel markers of tissue remodeling associated with mechanisms of pathogenesis in PJIs, such as biofilm turnover, synovial inflammation, and immune cell activity.
• To test soluble biomarkers of PJIs in clinical trials or cohorts to find association between biomarker profiles, clinical diagnosis, and treatment outcomes.
• To characterize the associations between developed biomarkers and the pathological mechanisms driving chronic infections associated with arthroplasty.