Expression of CC chemokine ligand 5 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and its correlation with disease activity and medication.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the levels of CC chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) in serum and synovial fluid (SF) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their relations with disease activity and medication.


METHODS
CCL5 in serum and SF was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 28 RA patients and 21 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. In RA patients, the correlations of CCL5 levels in serum and SF with disease activity were analyzed. Meanwhile, the serum CCL5 levels among RA patients treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), Tripterygium Glucosides, and other Chinese herbs without disease-modifying effects were also compared.


RESULTS
CCL5 levels in both serum and SF of RA patients were significantly higher than those of OA patients (P < 0.05). Moreover, the level of CCL5 was higher in SF than that in serum of RA patients (P < 0.01). Serum CCL5 level was correlated significantly with the number of swollen joints (r = 0.3329, P < 0.05), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.4001, P < 0.05), and C reactive protein (r = 0.3735, P < 0.01). In addition, the level of CCL5 had a trend of lower in patients treated with DMARDs or Tripterygium Glucosides than those treated with other Chinese herbs, although the difference was not significant among those patients due to the small number of patients in each group.


CONCLUSIONS
In RA patients, the expression of CCL5 increases and correlates with some clinical and laboratory parameters of RA, which indicate that CCL5 plays an important role in RA and may serve as a useful marker of disease activity. DMARDs and Tripterygium Glucosides might exert their clinical effects through reducing CCL5 production in RA.
Yang
Ming-hui
MH
Institute of Rheumatology and Immunology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Sichuan 637000, China.
Wu
Feng-xia
FX
Xie
Chuan-mei
CM
Qing
Yu-feng
YF
Wang
Guang-rong
GR
Guo
Xiao-lan
XL
Tang
Zhong
Z
Zhou
Jing-guo
JG
Yuan
Guo-hua
GH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D013582:Synovial Fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
C483024:CCL5 protein, human; D018946:Chemokine CCL5; D002097:C-Reactive Protein