Serum and synovial fluid insulin like growth factor-1 and its binding protein-3 in rheumatoid arthritis

Insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1] and its binding protein-3 [IGFBP-3] in human synovial fluid play an important role in maintaining articular cartilage metabolism. In this study, we measured serum and synovial fluid [SF] concentrations of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in 20 rheumatoid arthritis patients [RA] and 10 matched controls [with traumatic knee effusion] using radioimmunoassay. Also, we tried to correlate serum and synovial levels with each other and with disease activity and severity measures. Our results showed a significant increase in synovial fluid level of both IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in RA patients as compared to controls. Serum IGF-1 correlated with synovial fluid level but serum IGFBP-3 did not correlate with synovial fluid level. Disease activity markers correlated significantly with synovial fluid IGF-12 and IGFBP-3 levels, but did not show significant correlation with their serum level. In conclusion the pattern of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in SF differs in inflammatory versus non-inflammatory joints

Diagnostic value of antikeratin antibodies and serum ICAM-1 in some rheumatic disorders

The aim of this study was to find out whether antikeratin antibodies [AKA] has an additional diagnostic and/or prognostic value when performed with rheumatoid factor [RF] in inflammatory and degenerative arthritis. We also assessed the level of circulating intercellular adhesion molecule-1 [ICAM-1] and correlated serum levels with clinical parameters of disease activity and severity. Moreover, we examined whether AKA have an association with circulating serum ICAM-1. Forty RA patients, 15 SLE patients, 15 OA patients and 15 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The occurrence of AKA reached 55% in RA while it did not exceed 13.5% in other groups. RA patients who were AKA positive suffered from significantly higher disease activity indices and degree of X-ray severity than RA patients who were AKA negative. Again, serum ICAM-1 was significantly higher in the AKA positive as compared to the AKA negative RA patients. Serum ICAM-1 levels were significantly higher in RA and SLE patients than in OA and controls [p<0.01]. Serum ICAM-1 levels correlated with disease activity in RA and SLE. None of the clinical parameters correlated with ICAM-1 serum levels in OA patients. Therefore, AKA was found to have a diagnostic and prognostic value in RA patients. Moreover, circulating serum ICAM-1 levels may act as a disease activity marker in RA and SLE patients