ABSTRACT
To measure the serum concentrations of specific cartilage and bone molecules reflecting tissue turnover to investigate disease activity. The study included 30 rheumatoid arthritis [RA] patients with age range 42 - 66 years. Sixteen patients had rapid erosive disease and fourteen had slow erosive, compared with 20 matched apparently healthy volunteers. All studied individuals were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination and laboratory investigations including measurement of serum levels of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein [COMP], hyaluronic acid [HA], high sensitive C- reactive protein [CRP], erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR] and RF concentration as well as measurement of activity of RA by disease activity score [DAS] 28 joint counts. The study showed a significantly higher values of COMP, HA, CRP and ESR in slow erosive [p<0.001] and rapid erosive [p<0.0001] RA patients when compared to controls. There were significantly higher values of COMP, HA, CRP and ESR in rapid erosive RA patients compared to slow erosive RA patients. A significant positive correlation between serum levels of COMP and HA and age, disease duration, Larsen score, DAS and CRP and ESR was found. Also there was a significant positive correlation between serum levels of COMP and HA [r = 0.674, p<0.01]. It could be concluded that the measurement of some serological biomarkers that reflect bone and cartilage destruction in RA patients, could be used to investigate disease activity and increase the knowledge of the basic pathophysiology of joint disease