Abstract:

Objective To investigate the value of serum soluble stromelysin 2（sST2）level in the observation of rheumatoid arthritis（RA） and the monitoring of therapeutic effect. Methods Serum sST2 levels in 75 RA patients（RA group）and 50 healthy subjects（control group） were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）,and C-reactive protein（CRP）,erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR）and rheumatoid factor（RF） in RA patients were determined as well. Disease activity score 28（DAS28） was used to evaluate the disease activity of RA and drug efficiency. Of the 33 RA patients who received drug therapy,28 patients were followed up for 2 treatment cycles,and 5 patients were followed up for 4 treatment cycles. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between sST2 and various indicators. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the influencing factors of serum sST2 level. Results The level of serum sST2 in RA group was higher than that in control group（P<0.01）. Pearson correlation analysis showed that serum sST2 level was positively correlated with CRP,ESR and DAS28（r values were 0.534,0.487 and 0.794,respectively,P<0.05）,while no correlation was observed between sST2 and RF（r=0.095,P>0.05）. Multiple regression analysis results showed that CRP and ESR were independent factors influencing serum sST2 level [the regression equation was sST2=28.162+0.249×CRP+0.091×ESR（r²=0.675,P<0.05）]. Serum sST2,CRP,ESR and DAS28 in RA patients were decreased after treatment（P<0.01）,and there was no statistical significance in RF before and after treatment（P>0.05）. There was a positive correlation between the change of serum sST2 level（△sST2）and the change of DAS28（△DAS28） in RA patients before and after treatment（r=0.447,P=0.002）. Conclusions The indicator,sST2,may be used to observe the change of RA and the monitoring of therapeutic effect.

Key words: Soluble stromelysin 2, Disease activity, Rheumatoid arthritis