medwireNews: Study results suggest that the tumor-associated protein S100A11 could be a marker of disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
“Our data provide the first evidence of S100A11 up-regulation and its association with inflammation and disease activity in patients with RA,” say Lucie Andrés Cerezo (Institute of Rheumatology, Prague, Czech Republic) and study co-authors.
The team found that S100A11 was present at significantly higher levels in the synovial fluid of 40 patients with RA compared with that of 34 patients with osteoarthritis (OA), with mean measurements of 195.8 versus 26.8 ng/ml. However, serum levels of the protein were comparable among patients with RA and OA.
There was also a significant association between serum S100A11 and disease activity, as measured by disease activity scores in 28 joints based on C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP), and levels of the protein correlated with the presence of inflammatory markers, including anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8.
“[T]hese data further strengthen the hypothesis of S100A11 involvement in the local inflammatory process in RA,” write the researchers in Arthritis Research & Therapy, noting that its roles in the pathophysiological processes leading to joint inflammation and destruction “seem to be complex and require further investigation.”
And they conclude that “a long-term, large-scale, prospective study is warranted to further investigate the role of S100A11 in RA.”
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