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Neopterin has been measured in many autoimmune diseases and was reported as a marker of cellular immunity activation in rheumatoid asthritis (RA). The aim of this work was to assess serum neopterin as a marker of disease activity in treated RA patients. We measured serum level of neopterin in 120 treated RA patients and 100 age- and sex-matched controls by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, and disease activity score was calculated in all patients by DAS28-CRP score. Significantly higher levels of neopterin were observed in RA patients (11.46 ± 3.56 nmol/L) compared to healthy controls (4.74 ± 1.98 nmol/L), P < 0.0001. Significantly higher neopterin levels were observed among male RA patients [median (IQR), 13.44 (12.65-16.21)] than female RA patients [median (IQR), 11.86 (7.91-13.44)], P <0.0001. No significant correlations between neopterin and age, age of disease onset, disease duration, or any of the disease activity parameters were found. Moreover, no significant difference regarding neopterin levels in different disease activity phases was identified. Our results indicated that neopterin is a marker of RA but not a marker of disease activity in treated RA patients.

In this work we studied association of common variants in transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) and cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 1-like 1 (CDKAL1) genes with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Egyptians.Subjects and methodsThis is a case–control study; 180 T2DM patients and 210 control subjects were genotyped for TCF7L2 rs7903146 and rs12255372 and CDKAL1 rs7756992 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by TaqMan method on real time polymerase chain reaction system (real time-PCR).ResultsTCF7L2 rs12255372 and rs7903146 associated with T2DM (p = 0.0001 and 0.003; respectively). The rs12255372 variant T allele associated with 2-fold increased risk for T2DM and TT genotype carriers were at 3.58-folds higher risk to develop T2DM than wild genotype (GG) carriers. Meanwhile, rs7903146 variant T allele associated with 1.6-fold increased risk for T2DM and TT genotype carriers were at 2.3-folds higher risk than wild genotype (CC) carriers. Both TCF7L2 SNPs significantly associated with T2DM under additive and dominant models and after adjustment for other covariates. On the other hand, CDKAL1 rs7756992 showed no significant association with T2DM under any genetic model. Both TCF7L2 SNPs were in strong LD (P = 0.02; D′ = 0.85). Taking common TCF7L2 rs12255372/rs7903146 GC haplotype as reference, multivariate analysis confirmed the association of rs12255372 T allele-containing haplotypes (TC and TT) with T2DM. Haplotype TC associated with 6.32 times-higher risk for T2DM (95%CI = 0.55–76.17, Pc = 0.04) followed by haplotype TT which associated with 3.88 times-higher risk for the disease (95%CI = 1.09–13.76, Pc = 0.03).ConclusionTCF7L2 rs12255372 and rs7903146 common variants associate with T2DM risk in Egyptians.

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The aim of this study was to investigate association of protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) rs2476601 and signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) rs7574865 polymorphisms with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) susceptibility and to assess potential association with the status of rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, serum neopterin, and disease activity. RF, anti-CCP antibodies, and neopterin were assayed in serum of 100 unrelated RA patients and 114 controls. STAT4 rs7574865 G/T and PTPN22 rs2476601 C/T polymorphisms were genotyped by the TaqMan allelic discrimination method. The frequency of STAT4 variant allele was significantly higher in RA patients than in controls (p = 0.01), while the variant allele of PTPN22 was identified in only two RA patients, in a heterozygous form and in none of control subjects. The frequency of STAT4 variant allele carrier genotypes (GT+TT) was significantly higher among RA patients than in controls (43.7 vs. 10.5%, p = 0.02) and associated with RA under additive and dominant models. The frequency of RF and anti-CCP positivity was significantly higher among RA patients carrying T allele genotypes compared to patients carrying wild genotype (P = 0.02 and 0.04, respectively). No significant associations between STAT4 variant and serum neopterin or disease activity parameters were identified. Our study confirmed the association of STAT4 rs7574865 polymorphism with RA and was the first to indicate an association with RF and anti-CCP antibodies positivity. We also found PTPN22 rs2476601 has no role in susceptibility to RA in Egyptian patients.