Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory joint disease of autoimmune nature, characterized by painful, swollen joints that can severely impair physical function and quality of life. 1,2 The disease affects women 2-3 times more often than men and occurs at any age. 3 The peak incidence is between ages 50-60 years. In Western countries, the prevalence of RA is in the range of 0.5%-1.0% in White individuals, while the prevalence ratios were 0.45, 0.69 and 1.02 for women of Hispanic, Asian or African-American descent,

Background The determination of systemic inflammatory markers is one of the important directions to study the pathogenesis of asthma and improve the diagnosis of asthma. Current studies have found that the 14-3-3 protein family subtypes interact with target proteins to participate in the pathogenesis of a variety of immune inflammatory diseases. However, studies on serum tyrosine3-monooxygenase/tryptophan5-monooxygenase activation protein β (14-3-3β) in asthma are scarce. This study aimed to assess the clinical significance of 14-3-3β in asthmatic patients. Methods We recruited 54 asthmatic patients with acute exacerbation and 50 asthmatic patients with chronic persistent. The normal control group included 54 healthy individuals. Clinical characteristics, clinical indicators [fractional expiratory nitric oxide (FeNO), eosinophil count, forced vital capacity (FVC), percent of predicted FVC (FVC% predicted), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), percent of predicted FEV1 (FEV1% predicted), the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) and serum 14-3-3β levels were measured to compare among each group. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between 14-3-3β and clinical indicators. Finally, Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis was used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of 14-3-3β. Results Our results showed that median (interquartile range) of serum 14-3-3β concentration (ng/mL) in acute exacerbation group of asthma (41.18 [33.06–51.76]) was much higher than that in normal control group (24.99 [17.43–29.91]; P < 0.001) and chronic persistent group of asthma (25.88 [21.03–34.55]; P < 0.001). Spearman’s correlation coefficient shows that the serum 14-3-3β level was positively correlated with FeNO (r = − 0.292, P = 0.032) and peripheral blood eosinophil count (r = 0.328, P = 0.016), and was negatively related to FEV1/FVC (r = − 0.293, P = 0.031) in the acute exacerbation group of asthma. At the same time, the serum 14-3-3β level was also negatively associated with FEV1 (r = − 0.297, P = 0.036) in the chronic persistent group of asthma. ROC curve analysis comparing acute exacerbation group of asthma with normal control group demonstrated a significant (P < 0.001) AUC of 0.90 (95% CI 0.85–0.96). Conclusion The serum 14-3-3β protein may become a potential biomarker in asthmatic patients with acute exacerbation.

Background: The determination of systemic inflammatory markers is one of the important directions to study the pathogenesis of asthma and improve the diagnosis of asthma. Current studies have found that the 14-3-3 protein family subtypes interact with target proteins to participate in the pathogenesis of a variety of immune inflammatory diseases. However, studies on serum tyrosine3-monooxygenase/tryptophan5-monooxygenase activation protein β (14-3-3β) in asthma are scarce. This study aimed to assess the clinical significance of 14-3-3β in asthmatic patients. Methods: We recruited 54 asthmatic patients with acute attack and 50 asthmatic patients with chronic persistent. The normal control group included 54 healthy individuals with similar sex-age indicators. Clinical characteristics (age, gender, height and weight), clinical indicators [fractional expiratory nitric oxide (FeNO), eosinophil count, forced vital capacity (FVC), percent of predicted FVC (FVC % predicted), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), percent of predicted FEV1 (FEV1% predicted), the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) and percent of predicted FEV1/FVC (FEV1/FVC% predicted)] and serum 14-3-3β levels were measured to compare among each group. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation between 14-3-3β and clinical indicators. Finally, Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis was used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of 14-3-3β.Results: Our results showed that median (interquartile range) of serum 14-3-3β concentration (ng/ml) in acute attack group of asthma (41.18 [33.06-51.76]) was much higher than that in normal control group (24.99 [17.43-29.91]; P<0.001) and chronic persistent group of asthma (25.88 [21.03-34.55]; P<0.001),however, it was that exist no statistical heterogeneity with regard to the serum 14-3-3β level between the chronic persistent group of asthma and the healthy individuals (P >0.05). Spearman’s correlation coefficient shows that the serum 14-3-3β level was positively correlated with FeNO (r=-0.292, P=0.032) and peripheral blood eosinophil count (r=0.328, P=0.016), and was negatively related to FEV1/FVC (r=-0.293, P=0.031) and FEV1/FVC% predicted (r=-0.299, P=0.028) in the acute attack group of asthma. At the same time, the serum 14-3-3β level was also negatively associated with FEV1 (r=-0.297, P=0.036) in the chronic persistent group of asthma. ROC curve analysis comparing acute attack group of asthma with normal control group demonstrated a significant (P<0.001) AUC of 0.90 (95% CI, 0.85–0.96). When the cut off value was 29.70 ng/ml, the ROC curve yielded a sensitivity of 92.6%, a specificity of 75.9%, a positive likelihood ratio (+LR) of 3.84, negative likelihood ratio (-LR) of 0.10 and a Youden index of 0.69 in acute attack group of asthma. ROC curve analysis comparing chronic persistent group of asthma with normal control group demonstrated no statistically significant difference (P>0.05) AUC of 0.60 (95% CI, 0.49–0.70). Conclusion: The Elevated serum 14-3-3β levels may be associated with airway inflammation and impaired bronchial patency in the acute attack of asthma. The serum 14-3-3β protein can be used to distinguish between asthmatic patients with acute attack and healthy individuals and may become a potential biomarker in asthmatic patients with acute attack.

ObjectivesThe present study explored the correlation of soluble CD163 with refractory systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (refractory So-JIA) as well as the clinical significanceof soluble CD163 in (refractory So-JIA).MethodsA total of 33 young patients diagnosed with So-JIA in the active period and 30 young patients diagnosed with So-JIA in the inactive period at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center (Guangzhou, China) from January 2010 to January 2012 as well as 40 age-matched healthy individuals, who had visited the hospital for medical examination in the same time-period were enrolled in the present study. Flow cytometry was used to determine the lymphocyte count and ELISA was adopted for determining the levels of soluble CD163 in serumResultsThe levels of soluble CD163 and their correlation with indexes of disease activity were observed. In patients with So-JIA in the active period, the levels of soluble CD163 and the Tcell count were significantly higher than those in the inactive So-JIA and healthy individuals (P<0.05). Furthermore, the levels of soluble CD163 were positively correlated with C-reactive protein, ferritin, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, white blood cell count and immunoglobulin E as indexes of disease activity (P<0.05).ConclusionsSoluble CD163 is a more valuable index for early recognise refractory active So-JIA, which can provide a basis for active period development and clinical observation.Disclosure of InterestNone declared

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