| Summary: | Aim of the work: This work aimed to evaluate serum pentraxin 3 (PTX3) levels in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to study the association with the disease activity. Patients and methods: Sixty RA patients and 26 matched controls were included. In patients, clinical examination was performed and disease activity score (DAS28) assessed. Serum PTX3, rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured. Results: The mean age of the patients was 54.9 ± 11.7 years, and the median (Min–Max) of disease duration was 24 (3.96–60) months and 91.7% were females. The mean DAS28 was 4.16 ± 1.77, the ESR was 38.6 ± 23.03 mm/1st h, CRP was 14.9 ± 8.6 mg/l, RF was 49.6 ± 28.1 IU/ml and the median anti-CCP was 375. Serum PTX3 level was significantly higher in RA patients (2.82 ± 0.48 pg/ml) compared to controls (2.56 ± 0.29 pg/ml) (p = 0.003). There was a significant difference in serum PTX3 level according to the disease activity: remission (2.49 ± 0.16 pg/ml), low (2.61 ± 0.33 pg/ml), moderate (2.90 ± 0.53 pg/ml) and high (3.01 ± 0.51 pg/ml) (p = 0.016). There was a significant correlation between serum PTX3 level with disease activity (r = 0.39, p = 0.002) and CRP (r = 0.49, p < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between serum PTX3 level and the RF (r = 0.25, p = 0.054), anti-CCP (r = 0.18, p = 0.17) and ESR (r = 0.09, p = 0.51). PTX3 and CRP showed a good sensitivity and specificity in predicting RA disease (p = 0.006 and p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: PTX3 can be considered as a marker of a positive acute phase response and may serve as a potential novel biomarker for detecting RA activity. Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, PTX3 protein, Disease activity, DAS28, Biomarkers, Inflammation
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