Investigation of endocan level in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients' serum, and its relationship with disease activity

Abstract

Aim: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic rheumatic disease. Endocan is a human endothelial cell-specific molecule. The aim of this study was to investigate the endocan level in RA patients' serum, and its relationship with disease activity. Material and Methods: We enrolled 56 patients with RA, 55 patients with fibromyalgia (FMS), and 56 healthy volunteers in this cross-sectional study. Endocan was analyzed with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The Kruskal-Wallis variance analysis was used to compare independent group differences. Chi-square analysis was used for comparison of categorical variables and Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between continuous variables. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age was 44.03 +/- 10.79 years among RA patients. The mean disease duration was 64.44 +/- 53.82 months in RA patients. Serum endocan levels were similar between the groups including RA, FMS patients, and healthy subjects without any statistical significance (28.27 pg/ml in RA, 29.38 pg/ml in FMS, and 30.12 pg/ml in healthy subjects, p > 0.05). Endocan levels in the serum were also at similar titers in active and inactive RA patients (27.9 pg/ml, 28.64 pg/ ml, respectively). Discussion: We did not find increased levels of serum endocan in rheumatoid arthritis patients compared with fibromyalgia and healthy subjects. New studies with a higher number of patients are necessary for a more clear outcome.