title: Relationship between procollagen III peptide serum levels, synovitis of weight bearing joints and disability in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: We studied P-III-P levels along with several acute phase reactants, Beta-2-microglobulin and autoantibody synthesis in 52 rheumatoid patients. No relationship arose between P-III-P levels and immunological parameters nor with acute phase reactants. We observed a highly significant difference between P-III-P levels in patients with knee and/or hip involvement with respect to those with only polyarthritis of small joints (86.1 +/- 21.5 vs 61.2 +/- 19.1 ng/ml; p less than 0.001). In 24 consecutive patients we also observed a significant correlation (p less than 0.02) between P-III-P levels and AIMS score. We conclude that P-III-P levels are mainly related to the synovial inflammation of major joints and as such P-III-P might represent the biochemical marker of the synovial mass in rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatic Disease Unit (RDU), University Hospital of Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Ferraccioli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cavalieri
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Troise Rioda
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonelli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Franchini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ugolotti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood*; D013585:Synovitis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016474:Weight-Bearing
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011347:Procollagen; C041876:procollagen Type III-N-terminal peptide; D002097:C-Reactive Protein