From Scoliosis Wiki

Biochemical scoliosis test: The second scoliosis predictive test is a biochemical one where two proteins called Osteopontin (OPN) and soluble CD44 (sCD44) are measured in the blood. Our clinical data in Montreal, Milan and Hong Kong clearly demonstrated that plasma OPN elevation is associated with IS onset and disease severity since all surgical cases (Cobb angle ≥ 45°) exhibit the highest values when compared to mild scoliosis and healthy control subjects. Conversely, sCD44 is a protective molecule that can prevent OPN from triggering scoliosis or spinal deformity progression by binding free OPN. This explains why IS surgical cases exhibit the lowest sCD44 values when compared to mild scoliosis cases and healthy controls subjects. OPN is not only a biochemical marker, it is the key player causing IS onset and it is responsible for spinal deformity progression. It is true that OPN and sCD44 are not disease-specific but when the observations of the effects of both are combined it does appear they become highly specific for IS. These data will be published in the upcoming months.