Syndecan-4 Is Increased in Osteoarthritic Knee, but Not Hip or Shoulder, Articular Hypertrophic Chondrocytes.

Even if chondrocytes clusters are seen in OA knee, hip and shoulder cartilage and hypertrophic differentiation appears in knee and hip OA articular chondrocytes, syndecan-4 synthesis only increased in knee. These findings suggest the presence of biochemical difference between articular cartilage according to their location and that syndecan-4 could be a biochemical marker specific for knee OA.