Correlation Between Syndecan-2 And VEGF In Angiogenesis Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective: This study was designed to detect the concentrations of Syndecan-2(SDC-2)and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in serum and joint synovial tissue from patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA)by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA)and immunohistochemistry.We analyzed the correlation between SDC-2 and VEGF and disease activity,and explored its significance.To analyze whether SDC-2 interacts with VEGF in the course of RAand explore the possibility of SDC-2 as a potential anti-angiogenic target,and provide reference for clinical intervention.Methods: The RA serum group consisted of 49 patients who were admitted to the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from August to December 2017,and met the diagnostic criteria of RA was revised by 2010 American College of Rheumatology(ACR)/European Union Against Rheumatism(EULAR),and collected clinical data of these patients.To select 30 people in the same period who had physical examination in physical examination centers of the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University as healthy control group;We measured serum SDC-2 and VEGF levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in RA patients and healthy controls.The synovial tissue specimens of 5 patients with knee joint replacement in West China Hospital of Sichuan University were collected as RA synovial tissue group.Three cases of synovial tissue specimens from Osteoarthritis(OA)patients with knee joint replacement in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University were collected as OA synovial tissue group.We detected the expression of SDC-2 and VEGF by immunohistochemistry in joint synovial tissue.The pearson single factor correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between serum SDC-2,VEGF and experimental results and clinical manifestations(Erythrocyte sedimentation rate,C-reactive protein,joint tenderness count,joint swelling count,Disease active score 28,rheumatoid factor,anti-mutation type Citrulline vimentin antibody)in patients with RA,and to analyze the relationship between serum SDC-2 and VEGF.Results: The mean serum SDC-2 concentration was(159.23 ± 59.17)pg/ml for RA patients and(112.39 ± 21.54)pg/ml in controls.The mean serum VEGF concentration was(85.13±91.39)pg/ml for RA patients and(24.20±8.14)pg/ml in controls.The serum levels of SDC-2 and VEGF in the RA serum groups were higher than those in the healthy control group(P<0.01),and the difference was statistically significant.The expression of SDC-2 in the synovial tissue of RA patients was negative(-)in 2 cases,positive(+)in 2 cases,moderately positive(++)in 1 case,positive expression rate was 60%;VEGF expression was negative(-)in 1 case,positive(+)in 2 cases,moderately positive(++)in 1 case,strong positive(+++)in 1 case,the positive expression rate was 80%.And the expression of SDC-2 and VEGF in OA patients was negative(-).Furthermore,the SDC-2 and VEGF in synovial tissue from RA patients were significantly higher than that from OA patients(both P<0.01),and the difference was statistically significant.The serum SDC-2 and VEGF concentration was correlated with the serum CRP,ESR,TJC,SJC and DAS28-CRP(r=0.619?0.392?0.374?0.46?0.522 and 0.684?0.383?0.4?0.405?0.422,P<0.01).And there was no correlation with RF and anti-MCV.There was positive correlation between SDC-2 levels with VEGF levels in serum in the RA patients(r=0.498,P<0.01).Conclusions: SDC-2 and VEGF are highly expressed in serum and synovial tissue in RA patients and are correlated with RA disease activity.These results suggest that they may serve as a reference index for clinical observation of RA disease activity and judgment of curative effect.There was a positive correlation between SDC-2 and VEGF in RA patients,and they may have synergistic effect in the RA disease activity.SDC-2 may become a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of RA.