Measurement of caspase-1 and its downstream factor interleukin-18, interleukin-33 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To measure the levels of caspase-1 and its downstream factor interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-33 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and explore their possible mechanisms.Methods Blood samples were drown from 56 patients with RA and 22 healthy subjects.Serum levels of caspase-1,IL-18 and IL-33were tested by the method of enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Kruskal-Walls and Mann-Whitney test were used to compare the levels of caspase-1,[L-18 and IL-33 and Spearman's correlation test was used for correlation analysis.Results The level of caspase-1 was significantly increased in RA group compared to healthy group [(32±26) ng/ml vs (15±6) ng/ml,P＜0.01].Meanwhile,the active disease groups showed a higher level than the remission group,and level in the untreated group was higher than the treated group [(47±27) ng/ml vs (25±22) ng/ml,P＜0.01].The levels of IL-18 and IL-33 were significantly increased in RA group compared to healthy group [(121±121) ng/L vs (58±33) ng/L,(1032±1011) ng/L vs (510±231)ng/L,respectively,P＜0.05].Meanwhile,the active disease groups had a higher level than the remission group and the untreated group had higher levels than the treated group [IL-18 and IL-33 were (172±139) ng/L vs (97±106) ng/L,(1469±1039) ng/L vs (825±941) ng/L,respectively,P＜0.05].Caspase-1 was correlated withIL-18 and IL-33 (r=0.824,0.854,P＜0.01) and IL-18 was correlated with IL-33 (r=0.800,P＜0.01).But neither of the three factors was related with clinical indexes including disease duration,RF,anti-CCP antibody,tender joints count and swollen joints count.Conclusion Caspase-1 and its downstream factor IL-18,IL-33 increase in RA,and they may play important roles in RA.