Journal of Inflammation Research

Imaging, Omics and Artificial Intelligence in Musculoskeletal Inflammation and Joint Degeneration: Quantitative Biomarkers from Molecule to Joint

The Journal of Inflammation Research is pleased to welcome you to submit your research to the Article Collection "Imaging, Omics and Artificial Intelligence in Musculoskeletal Inflammation and Joint Degeneration: Quantitative Biomarkers from Molecule to Joint".

Inflammation is an important biological component of musculoskeletal injury and progressive joint degeneration. Synovial activation, matrix disruption and subchondral bone remodelling may precede overt structural damage and contribute to the transition from mechanical or traumatic insult to symptomatic disease. New technologies now enable these processes to be characterised across biological scales. Quantitative and compositional imaging can detect subtle changes in tissue composition and microstructure before conventional structural abnormalities emerge. Raman and other vibrational spectroscopies provide label-free molecular fingerprints of musculoskeletal tissues, while proteomic, metabolomic and lipidomic approaches reveal pathways associated with inflammation and degeneration. Artificial intelligence can integrate these high-dimensional data into quantitative biomarkers and clinically interpretable models. This Collection asks how these complementary approaches can improve the early and reproducible characterisation of musculoskeletal inflammation and joint degeneration.

Osteoarthritis and post-traumatic joint degeneration are major causes of disability, yet disease-modifying treatment remains limited. A central challenge is that many clinical and imaging endpoints reflect relatively late structural change, whereas molecular and inflammatory processes may begin much earlier. Quantitative imaging, molecular profiling and multimodal modelling could provide more sensitive biomarkers for patient stratification, disease monitoring and therapeutic trials. Translation, however, requires rigorous validation. Key limitations include small single-centre cohorts, heterogeneous protocols, inadequate external validation and metrics that may not reflect calibration or clinical usefulness. Reproducibility, explainability, fairness and robust validation are therefore essential for clinical and regulatory translation.

We welcome clinical, translational and methodological studies that advance the measurement and interpretation of musculoskeletal inflammation and tissue degeneration through emerging technologies.

Particular emphasis is placed on innovative and clinically translatable approaches that integrate quantitative imaging, molecular profiling and artificial intelligence. Topics of interest include:

• Quantitative and compositional MRI of cartilage, labrum, meniscus, synovium and subchondral bone
• Advanced imaging biomarkers of synovitis and effusion
• Raman and other label-free optical technologies
• Proteomic, metabolomic, lipidomic and spatial profiling
• Mechanisms and biomarkers of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and mechanically driven joint degeneration, including femoroacetabular impingement and hip dysplasia
• Radiomics and deep learning for automated imaging analysis
• Explainable and multimodal artificial intelligence for diagnosis, phenotyping and outcome prediction
• Integrated molecular, imaging and clinical biomarkers designed for translation into patient stratification, treatment monitoring and clinical decision support

Original research, reviews and methodological studies are particularly welcome.

Keywords: Musculoskeletal inflammation; Quantitative MRI; Molecular biomarkers; Artificial intelligence; Osteoarthritis

Meet the Guest Advisor

Dr. Lennard M. Wurm is a physician and clinician-scientist in orthopaedic surgery and traumatology. After working at the Department of Traumatology and Reconstructive Surgery at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, he joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology at Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, where his current clinical and research activities are based. His research focuses on translational musculoskeletal medicine, with particular interests in musculoskeletal imaging, joint preservation, biomedical spectroscopy, quantitative biomarkers and artificial intelligence. He has published in orthopaedic and trauma surgery, biomedical spectroscopy and artificial intelligence and contributes to the scientific community as a peer reviewer and grant reviewer.