title: Pro-oxidant- Antioxidant Balance (PAB) in Rheumatoid Arthritis and its Relationship to Disease Activity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that tends to be progressive and chronic. Previous studies showed that oxidative stress has a main role in pathology of RA. The aim of this study was the easy elucidation of oxidative stress through pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) in these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sera of 130 RA patients and 130 age-matched healthy subjects (HS) were collected and the PAB was measured. According to the normal value of PAB in HS, the patients were divided into two groups; patients with increased serum PAB and those with normal serum PAB values. In patients with increased PAB value, the correlation of PAB value with RA disease activity [(DAS28ESR)], biochemical parameters, and BMI were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly higher serum PAB values were found in the whole RA group of patients (88.69±39.42 HK) in comparison to HS (53.57±25.10 HK), p . 0.05. There was no significant correlation between PAB values and RA disease activity. In patients with elevated serum PAB value; serum cholesterol, triglycerides and BMI were significantly higher in comparison to patients with normal values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PAB test can show the oxidative stress in RA patients. Further research should be done to determine the potency of the PAB assay as a tool for monitoring adverse effect of oxidative stress in RA, as well as the effect of antioxidant therapies in the outcomes.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sahebari
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shakeri
authors.forename: Hamideh Ghodrati
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Azadi
authors.forename: Mohammad Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Arjmand
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghayour-Mobarhan
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Parizadeh
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry & Nutrition Research Center, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Daryoush Hamidi
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Alamdari
keywords: Disease activity; oxidative stress; rheumatoid arthritis