Serum pentraxin 3 levels in rheumatoid arthritis patients and its association with disease activity

Aim of the workThis work aimed to evaluate serum pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to study the association with the disease activity.Patients and methodsSixty RA patients and 26 matched controls were included. In patients, clinical examination was performed and disease activity score (DAS28) assessed. Serum PTX3, rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 54.9 ± 11.7 years, and the median (Min–Max) of disease duration was 24 (3.96–60) months and 91.7% were females. The mean DAS28 was 4.16 ± 1.77, the ESR was 38.6 ± 23.03 mm/1st h, CRP was 14.9 ± 8.6 mg/l, RF was 49.6 ± 28.1 IU/ml and the median anti-CCP was 375. Serum PTX3 level was significantly higher in RA patients (2.82 ± 0.48 pg/ml) compared to controls (2.56 ± 0.29 pg/ml) (p = 0.003). There was a significant difference in serum PTX3 level according to the disease activity: remission (2.49 ± 0.16 pg/ml), low (2.61 ± 0.33 pg/ml), moderate (2.90 ± 0.53 pg/ml) and high (3.01 ± 0.51 pg/ml) (p = 0.016). There was a significant correlation between serum PTX3 level with disease activity (r = 0.39, p = 0.002) and CRP (r = 0.49, p < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between serum PTX3 level and the RF (r = 0.25, p = 0.054), anti-CCP (r = 0.18, p = 0.17) and ESR (r = 0.09, p = 0.51). PTX3 and CRP showed a good sensitivity and specificity in predicting RA disease (p = 0.006 and p < 0.001, respectively).ConclusionPTX3 can be considered as a marker of a positive acute phase response and may serve as a potential novel biomarker for detecting RA activity.