The relationship between Modic changes and intervertebral disc degeneration

BACKGROUND: Recent reported results have added to the weight of evidence supporting association between disc degeneration and Modic changes. Endplate or Modic changes are also associated with increased body mass index. The most recent study from Teichtahl et al. titled 'Modic changes in the lumbar spine and their association with body composition, fat distribution and intervertebral disc height - a 3.0 T-MRI study' showed associations of Modic changes with quantitatively measured reduced disc height and fat mass index. However, there were some facts, which we would like to address in this Correspondence to their article. DISCUSSION: The different components of intervertebral disc degeneration such as loss of disc height and disc signal intensity have already been shown associated with endplate changes - but not disc height if it is assessed using newer more precise methods of quantitation of disc height. A possible protective effect of different adiposity distribution in the body to Modic change development would be of interest if observed in a longitudinal study in the future. Modic changes have been associated with different components of intervertebral disc degeneration such as loss of disc height and disc signal intensity previously. The influence of body fat distribution on endplate changes would be interesting to study longitudinally

Structure and characterization of a novel chicken biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A)

BACKGROUND: The chicken genome contains a BBP-A gene showing similar characteristics to avidin family genes. In a previous study we reported that the BBP-A gene may encode a biotin-binding protein due to the high sequence similarity with chicken avidin, especially at regions encoding residues known to be located at the ligand-binding site of avidin. RESULTS: Here, we expand the repertoire of known macromolecular biotin binders by reporting a novel biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A) from chicken. The BBP-A recombinant protein was expressed using two different expression systems and purified with affinity chromatography, biochemically characterized and two X-ray structures were solved – in complex with D-biotin (BTN) and in complex with D-biotin D-sulfoxide (BSO). The BBP-A protein binds free biotin with high, "streptavidin-like" affinity (K(d )~ 10(-13 )M), which is about 50 times lower than that of chicken avidin. Surprisingly, the affinity of BBP-A for BSO is even higher than the affinity for BTN. Furthermore, the solved structures of the BBP-A – BTN and BBP-A – BSO complexes, which share the fold with the members of the avidin and lipocalin protein families, are extremely similar to each other. CONCLUSION: BBP-A is an avidin-like protein having a β-barrel fold and high affinity towards BTN. However, BBP-A differs from the other known members of the avidin protein family in thermal stability and immunological properties. BBP-A also has a unique ligand-binding property, the ability to bind BTN and BSO at comparable affinities. BBP-A may have use as a novel material in, e.g. modern bio(nano)technological applications

Structure and characterization of a novel chicken biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A)

Background. The chicken genome contains a BBP-A gene showing similar characteristics to avidin family genes. In a previous study we reported that the BBP-A gene may encode a biotin-binding protein due to the high sequence similarity with chicken avidin, especially at regions encoding residues known to be located at the ligand-binding site of avidin. Results. Here, we expand the repertoire of known macromolecular biotin binders by reporting a novel biotin-binding protein A (BBP-A) from chicken. The BBP-A recombinant protein was expressed using two different expression systems and purified with affinity chromatography, biochemically characterized and two X-ray structures were solved – in complex with D-biotin (BTN) and in complex with D-biotin D-sulfoxide (BSO). The BBP-A protein binds free biotin with high, "streptavidin-like" affinity (Kd ~ 10-¹³ M), which is about 50 times lower than that of chicken avidin. Surprisingly, the affinity of BBP-A for BSO is even higher than the affinity for BTN. Furthermore, the solved structures of the BBP-A – BTN and BBP-A – BSO complexes, which share the fold with the members of the avidin and lipocalin protein families, are extremely similar to each other. Conclusion. BBP-A is an avidin-like protein having a β-barrel fold and high affinity towards BTN. However, BBP-A differs from the other known members of the avidin protein family in thermal stability and immunological properties. BBP-A also has a unique ligand-binding property, the ability to bind BTN and BSO at comparable affinities. BBP-A may have use as a novel material in, e.g. modern bio(nano)technological applications.peerReviewe

Vertebral endplate (Modic) change is an independent risk factor for episodes of severe and disabling low back pain

Longitudinal cohort study of twins representative of the general population

Lumbosacral transitional vertebrae are associated with lumbar degeneration:retrospective evaluation of 3855 consecutive abdominal CT scans

Abstract Objectives: To assess the prevalence of lumbosacral transitional vertebra (LSTV) and associated spinal degenerative changes on abdominal CT scans in Caucasian population. Material and methods: A total of 3855 abdominal CT scans of the year 2017 from a single hospital were retrospectively assessed for LSTV, disc degeneration (DD), and facet joint degeneration (FD). An age- and sex-matched 150-subject control group without LSTV was picked at random. Multivariable logistic regression was used for the analysis. Results: LSTV was found in 1101 (29%) scans: Castellvi type I in 68%, type II in 16%, type III in 13%, and type IV in 3% of scans. Age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of DD was significantly higher in Castellvi type II and III groups at multiple lumbar levels, and in IV group at L4/5 than in control group (p < 0.001–0.034). At L5/S1, the prevalence of DD was significantly higher in the control group than in type II, III, or IV groups (p < 0.001–0.017). After combining Castellvi types II, III, and IV into one group, significant differences were found at all lumbar levels except L2/3 (p < 0.001–0.016). Prevalence of FD was significantly higher at L4/5 in Castellvi groups I, II, and III than in the control group (p < 0.001–0.002). When Castellvi types II, III, and IV were combined into one group, significant differences were found at lumbar levels L2/3, L3/4, and L4/5 (p < 0.001–0.021). Conclusion: Lumbosacral vertebrae of Castellvi types II, III, and IV are associated with greater lumbar degeneration, warranting meticulous evaluation of spinal anatomy, even on CT

The association of lumbosacral transitional vertebrae with low back pain and lumbar degenerative findings in MRI:a large cohort study

Abstract Study Design: A cross-sectional study of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966). Objective: To evaluate the association of lumbosacral transitional vertebrae (LSTV) with low back pain (LBP) and associated degenerative findings using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Summary of Background Data: LSTV is a common finding with a prevalence of 10% to 29%. LSTV causes biomechanical alterations leading to accelerated lumbar degeneration. However, its association with degenerative findings on MRI and LBP is unclear. Methods: One thousand four hundred sixty eight lumbar spine MRI scans from the NFBC1966 acquired at a mean age of 47 years were assessed for the presence of LSTV and degenerative changes. Castellvi classification was utilized to identify LSTV anatomy. Additionally, 100 controls without LSTV were collected. Self-reported LBP with a duration of more than 30 days in the past year was deemed clinically relevant. For the statistical analyses, chi square test, independent samples t test and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used. Results: LSTV was found in 310 (21.1%) subjects. After adjusting for age, sex, and disc degeneration (DD) sum, subjects with Castellvi type III reported prolonged LBP significantly more frequently than the controls (odds ratio [OR] = 8.9, P = 0.001). We observed a higher prevalence of facet degeneration (FD) at all levels from L3/L4 to L5/S1 in type I, and L3/L4 to L4/L5 in types II–IV. DD was more prevalent at L4/L5 in types II–IV. Disc protrusion/extrusion occurred more frequently at L3/L4 and L4/L5 in type II, and at L3/L4 in type III. Castellvi type II had a higher prevalence of type 1 Modic changes at levels from L3/L4 to L4/L5. Conclusions: LSTVs were a common finding within this study, and Castellvi type III LSTVs were associated with LBP. Degenerative findings were associated with LSTV anatomy and occurred more commonly above the transitional level

A stronger baseline for automatic Pfirrmann grading of lumbar spine MRI using deep learning

Abstract This paper addresses the challenge of grading visual features in lumbar spine MRI using Deep Learning. Such a method is essential for the automatic quantification of structural changes in the spine, which is valuable for understanding low back pain. Multiple recent studies investigated different architecture designs, and the most recent success has been attributed to the use of transformer architectures. In this work, we argue that with a well-tuned three-stage pipeline comprising semantic segmentation, localization, and classification, convolutional networks outperform the state-of-the-art approaches. We conducted an ablation study of the existing methods in a population cohort, and report performance generalization across various subgroups. Our code is publicly available to advance research on disc degeneration and low back pain