What is it about?
For 200 years, Dupuytren disease management has been based entirely on physical examination findings. However, these findings don't give biological information to predict long-term risk or test preventive treatments. A Dupuytren blood test is the best option for personalized guidance to predict lifetime risk, guide treatment selection, and test preventive medicines. There isn't such a test, and we are working to develop one. In this study, we analyzed blood samples from people with and without Dupuytren disease. Based on our analysis of nearly 7,000 blood proteins, we developed blood tests to determine whether someone has Dupuytren and whether they have the more severe form that causes Dupuytren finger contractures at a younger age. We also found evidence that in Dupuytren, collagen is produced at a normal rate but removed too slowly, which might explain why it accumulates in affected areas. This is the first study to report these findings.
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Photo by Luis Quintero on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Dupuytren is common, but varies in severity. Most people with Dupuytren have the mild form, which either doesn't cause finger deformities or doesn't come back after corrective procedures. But one in ten people with Dupuytren have the severe version that can't be controlled with available treatments. Their only hope is a preventive treatment to prevent deformities from developing and from returning after a corrective procedure. Blood tests that provide a snapshot of a person's biology are essential for developing and testing preventive treatments. Currently, there is no such blood test for Dupuytren. In this study, we developed a prototype blood test that indicates whether someone has Dupuytren and, more importantly, whether their Dupuytren is mild or severe. This breakthrough justifies large-scale research to develop a standard Dupuytren blood test to guide treatment and to develop medicines that reduce the need for Dupuytren surgery.
Perspectives
Dupuytren disease is an example of a medical condition managed by surgeons only because there is no effective medical treatment. Unfortunately for those with the severe form of Dupuytren, surgical management eventually fails. There's been no progress in developing preventive treatments because surgeons' expertise is in damage control, not prevention. Surgeons don't do the kind of research needed to develop preventive treatments: medical doctors do. But medical doctors don't treat Dupuytren, so it's not on their research radar. Dupuytren has been in limbo between surgical and medical research silos for 200 years. This study is exciting because we're using chronic disease research methods to develop medical answers for a "surgical" disease. Our goal is for Dupuytren to join the ranks of other medical diseases for which new treatments have made surgery obsolete, like tuberculosis and peptic ulcer disease. It's the future!
Charles Eaton
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Identification of novel plasma proteomic biomarkers of Dupuytren disease, PLOS One, March 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0343733.
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Resources
Advancing Dupuytren Diagnosis and Treatment
Review of the challenges of developing better treatments for Dupuytren disease and the rationale for Dupuytren blood biomarker research by Dr. Charles Eaton of the Dupuytren Research Group
Dupuytren Disease Pathohysiology
Presentation on Dupuytren Disease Pathophysiology by Dr. Charles Eaton at the 2025 International Conference on Dupuytren Disease in Brussels, Belgium.
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