The Relationship Between Serum Pentraxine 3 Levels and Hematological Markers in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the association of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) with neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) rather than the disease activity score 28 using C-reactive protein in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients and methods:The study included 59 RA patients (11 males, 48 females; mean age 53.79±13.55 years; range 40 to 66 years) and 20 healthy controls (5 males, 15 females; mean age 50.41±6.11 years; range 43 to 56 years). Complete blood count tests were recorded and NLR and platelet/lymphocyte ratio were calculated. PTX3 and interleukin-6 levels were examined in serum samples. Disease activity of RA patients was assessed by disease activity score 28. Results: Demographic characteristics were similar between the two groups, with no statistically significant difference in terms of sex, age, and body mass index (p>0.05). NLR, PTX3 and interleukin-6 levels were higher in patients with RA than the control group (p<0.05). While erythrocyte sedimentation rate had a positive correlation with mean platelet volume, we found no correlation between NLR and other parameters of disease activity, PTX3, and interleukin-6. Conclusion: We found no correlation between PTX3 and disease activity score 28 or NLR, although PTX3 levels were higher in RA patients than the controls. As a result, we were unable to establish a relationship between PTX3 and disease activity, directly or indirectly. To our knowledge, our study was the first to investigate the relationship between PTX3 and NLR.

Circulating and Synovial Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) Expression Levels Correlate With Rheumatoid Arthritis Severity and Tissue Infiltration Independently of Conventional Treatments Response

“…Here, for the first time, we analyzed PTX3 expression profiles in a cohort of early and treatment-naïve RA patients at baseline, and 6-months after cs-DMARD treatment. As previously described, we confirmed that RA patients presented a higher concentration of circulating PTX3 compared to healthy donors (13)(14)(15) and that PTX3 levels positively correlated with CRP (16). In addition, we showed that, at the onset of the disease prior to any treatment modification, circulating PTX3 levels also correlated with ESR, DAS28 and the count of swollen and tender joints, therefore being a strong marker of disease activity.…”

“…In the context of RA, PTX3 has been shown to be constitutively highly expressed by synovial fibroblasts (12); however, as described in other tissues, various resident or infiltrating synovial cells like macrophages or endothelial cells might also represent a source of PTX3 upon inflammatory activation. Several groups found that PTX3 is upregulated in the serum of RA patients compared to healthy donors (13)(14)(15) or patients with osteoarthritis (16). However, conflicting results have been published regarding the relationship between the level of PTX3 in the serum and clinical features of the disease.…”

“…However, conflicting results have been published regarding the relationship between the level of PTX3 in the serum and clinical features of the disease. On the one hand, studies on different cohorts of 111 (17), 29 (18), 60 (13), 83 (19), 58 (14) or 41 (15) RA patients reported no relationship between PTX3 and the Disease Activity Score (DAS)-28. Conversely, other groups found an association between PTX3 serum levels and either CRP (16) or the progression of joint damage assessed by increase in the total van der Heijde modified Sharp score (SHSS) and joint space narrowing over 3 years (20).…”

Perspectives on long pentraxin 3 and rheumatoid arthritis: several potential breakthrough points relying on study foundation of the past

“…However, PTX3 is indirectly affected by the expression of IL-6 103 . Therefore, PTX3 and IL-6 are not directly interrelated, but IL-6 may indirectly induce the expression of PTX3 to promote the formation of inflammatory microenvironment of RA 104 .…”