Abstract
IntroductionThe aim of this study was to examine the serum levels of S100 proteins and to evaluate their role in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsSerum levels of S100A8/9 and S100A12 were analysed in 43 patients with recent-onset RA, both before and three months after the initiation of conventional treatment, as well as in 32 healthy individuals. Disease activity was assessed based on serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), the Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (DAS28) and the total number of swollen joints count for 66 joints (SJC).ResultsThe levels of serum S100A8/9 and S100A12 were significantly higher in patients with recent-onset RA compared to the levels in healthy individuals (P < 0.0001) and normalised after three months of treatment. Using age- and sex-adjusted analysis, S100A8/9 levels were correlated with CRP (r = 0.439, P < 0.01), DAS28 (r = 0.501, P = 0.002) and SJC (r = 0.443, P = 0.007), while S100A12 was less significantly correlated with these parameters. Higher levels of S100A8/9 at baseline predicted improvement in the levels of CRP and SJC over time. Moreover, decreases in serum S100A8/9 were associated with decreased serum levels of CRP (r = 0.459, P = 0.005) and improvements in SJC (r = 0.459, P = 0.005). In multiple linear regression analyses, decreases in S100A8/9 but not CRP were significant predictors for improvements in SJC (P = 0.001).ConclusionsThis study is the first to show normalisation of elevated S100 proteins in patients with recent-onset RA after the initiation of conventional treatment. Therefore, S100A8/9 might potentially be a predictive marker for improvement in the total number of swollen joints in patients in the early phase of RA.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to examine the serum levels of S100 proteins and to evaluate their role in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
Thirty-nine patients (90.7%) achieved good or moderate improvement, and eighteen (41.9%) reached remission according to the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) response criteria [24]
We found that changes in serum S100A8/9 positively correlated with changes in serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) (r = 0.476, P = 0.002), changes in Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (DAS28) (r = 0.390, P = 0.01) and changes in swollen joints count for joints (SJC) (r = 0.539, P < 0.001) (Figures 3A through 3C)
Summary
The aim of this study was to examine the serum levels of S100 proteins and to evaluate their role in patients with recent-onset rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A tight correlation between S100 proteins and laboratory and clinical markers of disease activity has been demonstrated in patients with different arthritides [13,14,15,16]. S100A8/9 and S100A12 were shown to be decreased locally in synovial tissue as well as in the blood in response to different anti-inflammatory therapies, including TNFa inhibitors, and they were upregulated weeks before relapse became clinically apparent in patients with previously well-controlled disease [16,17,18,19]. Longitudinal data demonstrated that S100A8/9 was a good prognostic biomarker for long-term radiographic joint progression in patients with established RA [21]
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