Z. M. A. A. Hamodat¹*, M. A. Ibrahim², O. M. Yahya²

¹Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Mosul, Iraq;
²Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Mosul, Iraq
*e-mail: zahraahamodat@uomosul.edu.iq

Received: 30 October 2025; Revised: 05 February 2026;
Accepted: 03 April 2026; Available on-line: April 2026

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative disease of the joints that represents the second most common rheumatic disease after rheumatoid arthritis. Arginase, a multifunctional enzyme that plays an important role in disease development, and adenosine deaminase, which is involved in the immune response, are considered to be involved in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. The study aimed to estimate both the activity of arginase and adenosine deaminase in the serum of patients with osteoarthritis depending on disease severity, age, and body mass index (BMI). The study included 80 participants, 40 in the control group and 40 with OA, divided into groups with mild or severe degrees of the disease, aged 30-45 and 46-65, with normal or overweight BMI. Enzyme activity was measured colorimetrically. Patients with severe osteoarthritis exhibited a significantly increased level of the activity for both arginase and adenosine deaminase compared to patients with mild osteoarthritis and healthy individuals. A strong positive correlation between the activity of arginase and age was found in the severe group, whereas a weak correlation was found between the activity of arginase and BMI in both mild and severe OA groups. ROC curve analysis showed that arginase exhibited an exceptionally high area under the curve (AUC of 0.923), indicating that arginase has high specificity and sensitivity compared to adenosine deaminase and other indicators in distinguishing between patients with osteoarthritis and healthy individuals.

Keywords: adenosine deaminase, arginase, disease severity, osteoarthritis, patient’s age and body weight