Serum Epidermal Growth Factor Level Changes and Its Clinical Significance in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis / 中国医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the serum levels of epidermal growth factor（EGF）in rheumatoid arthritis（RA）patients,and explore the possible role of EGF in RA.Methods The serum level of EGF was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）in 38 RA patients diagnosed according to dianostic criteria for RA by American Rheumatism Association and 20 healthy controls.Rheumatoid factor（RF）,erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR）and C-creative protein（CRP）were also measured in these 38 RA patients.The relation beween the serum level changes of EGF and the corresponding clinical indexes in the two groups was statistically analyzed.Results Compared with the healthy individuals,the serum EGF levels of RA patients increased significantly（P 0.05）.Compared with simple bone rarefaction patients,the serum levels of EGF increased significantly in the bone erosion patients（P 0.05）.The serum levels of EGF in RA patients had no correlation with RF,ESR and CRP levels（P 0.05）.Conclusion The evident increase of serum EGF level in RA patients,especially in bone erosion patients,suggests that EGF may partly play a role in the pathogenesis of RA.