The Study On The Expression Of Adiponectin Isoforms In The Serum Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis is a kind of autoimmune disease which ischaracterized with chronic synovial inflammation.Adiponectin is divided intohigh-molecular-weight(HMW),medium-molecular-weight(MMW)andlow-molecular-weight (LMW) forms. These forms differ not only in the number of adiponectinmolecules, but also in their biological activity. There are conflicting findingsregarding the role of adiponectin in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Moreover, few reportshave described the relations between serum adiponectin multimers levels and RA.Therefore, we examined the association of total andiponectin and its multimers withRA.Methods: Two study groups were examined:180recently diagnosed untreatedRA patients with disease duration less than1year (RA group) and160age-and sex-matched control subjects(control group). Total adiponectin, HMW, MMW, LMW,erythrocyte sedimentation rate （ESR）,C-reactive protein （CRP）,anti-cycliccitrullinated peptide antibody（CCP）, rheumatoid factor IgM (RF-IgM), RF-IgG, RF-IgA, triglyceride（TG）,Total cholesterol（TC）,high density lipoprotein cholesterol（HDL-C）,low density lipoprotein cholestero（lLDL-C）, blood pressure（BP）, bodymass index (BMI), glucose,disease activity score in28joints（DAS28）.Results:①The levels of total adiponectin and each multimer of adiponectinwere significantly lower in the RA than in the control (P<0.01).②Serum levels oftotal, HMW, MMW and LMW were positively correlated with triglycerides levels andnegatively correlated with DAS28. Multivariate regression analysis showed that total,HMW and MMW adiponectin were independently associated with serum triglycerideslevel. LMW adiponectin was independently correlated with serum triglycerides leveland DAS28.③We also compared the differences of the total adiponectin and multierslevels between the RA patients with (NSAIDs+) or without NSAIDs treatment (NSAIDs-).The levels of total adiponectin and each multimer of adiponectin weresimilar in these two groups.④The serum levels of adiponectin multimers and totaladiponectin were compared in regard to the RF-IgG, RF-IgA, RF-IgM or Anti-CCPpositivity. There was no significant difference between the groups in regard to theRF-IgG, RF-IgA,RF-IgM or Anti-CCP positivity.Conclusions:The level of serum total adiponectin,HMW,MMW and LMWadiponectin were different in RA patients.The level of serum total adiponectin, HMW,MMW and LMW adiponectin may be involved in the metabolism of serum TG in RApatients.The LMW adiponectin levels may be involved in the disease activity of RA.The LMW adiponectin may be used as index of disease activity in RA patients.