title: Nitric oxide levels and the severity of juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
abstract: In this study, we evaluate the distribution of nitric oxide (NO) in the serum of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients, correlating it with parameters of the severity of the disease. Ninety-seven patients with mean age 11.7 years and disease duration 4.8 years, showing active disease or not, grouped as oligoarticular (n = 34), polyarticular (n = 29) and systemic (n = 34) group, presenting uveitis and positive RF with erosive arthritis or active disease and erosions had significantly high levels of NO than the inactive ones. NO correlated with TNF-alpha in the oligoarticular subtype (P < 0.03), with pain in the polyarticular subtype with active disease (P < 0.04) and with ESR in the systemic subtype with active disease (P < 0.03). TNF-alpha concentration was high in all patients with active disease, accompanying NO production. The data confirm the production of NO in JIA patients, indicating a possible positive correlation between the production of NO and severity of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Clínica de Reumatologia, Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Blanca Elena R G
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Bica
authors.forename: Niele M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Patrícia D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Ronir R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Luiz
authors.forename: Vera Lúcia G
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Koatz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001171:Arthritis, Juvenile / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001175:Arthrography; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D002634:Chemotaxis, Leukocyte / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D014605:Uveitis / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D009569:Nitric Oxide