The correlation between 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and serological indexes, immunological indexes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the expression and significance of vitamin D (VitD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA),and analyze the relationship between its expression and clinical indicators.Methods Clin-ical parameters and laboratory examinations of RA cases (n=250) were collected.Clinical parameters included were gender,age,disease course,swollen joints number,tenderness joints number,visual analog pain score (VAS),disease activity score (DAS)28 score.Laboratory examinations included erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),C-reactive protein (CRP),rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody,antinuclear (ANA) antibody,antikeratin (AKA) antibody,anti-perinuclear factor (APF),anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (MCV),antibody and anti-6-glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) antibody,lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood and lymphocyte subsets of CD4+T cells.The level of 25-(OH)-Vit-D and clinical parameters,laboratory examinations were analyzed retrospectively.One-way ANOVA and KruskalWallis test were used for comparison among the groups;and the correlation analysis was performed by Pearson and Spearman rank correlation analysis.Results ① The level of 25-(OH) D in RA patients was significantly lower than that in healthy controls (t=11.676,P＜0.01).② According to 25-(OH)D level,RA patients were divided into the deficiency group,insufficient group and normal group,the tender joints count (x2=17.793,P＜0.001),the number of swollen joints (x2=12.635,P=0.002),ESR (F=6.330,P=0.002),VAS score (F=5.095,P=0.007,DAS28 (F=4.990,P=0.008) were different significantly amorg the three groups.③RF (x2=6.742,P=0.034) and anti-CCP antibody (x2=6.836,P=0.033) were different significantly among the three groups and the level of 25-(OH) D was negatively correlated with RF (r=-0.202,P=0.001),anti-CCP antibody (r=-0.220,P＜0.01),anti-MCV antibody (r=-0.109,P=0.002) and AKA (r=-0.215,P=0.001).④ The level of 25-(OH) D in the RF (t=-2.715,P=0.007),anti-CCP antibody (t=-2.03,P=0.044),AKA (t=-2.108,P=0.036) negative group was significantly higher than that in patients with antibody positive group.⑤ The level of Th1 (IFN-γ) cells (F=3.259,P=0.043) and Treg (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) cells (F=4.342,P=0.031) were significantly different among the three groups and the level of 25-(OH) D was positively correlated with Treg (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+) cells (r=0.146,P=0.025).Conclusion Vitamin D is generally deficient in RA patients,which is significantly correlated with disease activity,RF,anti-CCP antibody,anti-MCV antibody,AKA and Th1,Treg cells.It is suggested that vitamin D may play an important role in the immunological pathogenesis and disease progression of RA.