The relationship between the expression of monocyte CD36 and carotid plaques in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objective To discuss the relationship between monocyte CD36 expression and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods A total of 207 RA patients were divided into arteriosclerosis group and non-arteriosclerosis groups in accordance with the results of ultrasound in carotid artery, and semi-quantity score was used for cIMT in patients with RA. Risk factors of cIMT in RA patients were analyzed by Spearman correlation and Logistic regression analysis. Results C reactive protein (CRP), triglyceride (TG), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and monocyte CD36 expression were found to be statistically different between the two groups (P<0.05). Monocyte CD36 fluorescence intensity was negatively correlated with TNF, IL-6, CRP and cIMT in patients with RA (r=-0.344, P<0.01; r=-0.646, P<0.01; r=-0.160, P=0.021; r=-0.687, P<0.01). Logistic analysis showed that monocyte CD36 was associated with the formation of artery atheromatous plaque in patients with RA[OR=1.580, 95%CI (1.057, 2.361), P<0.01]. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) curve analysis showed that monocyte CD36 fluorescence intensity was useful when the value with the area under curve was 0.926, the sensitivity and specificity was 83.7% and 82.5% respectively. Conclusion Monocyte CD36 fluorescence intensity is cor-related with artery atheromatous plaque in patients with RA, monocyte CD36 fluorescence intensity may be a marker to estimate cIMT in RA patients. Key words: Monocyte; Arthritis, rheumatoid; Plaque, atherosclerotic