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Pentraxin 3 is associated with disease activity but not atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Modern Rheumatology

Abstract

Objectives

Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) plays an important role in inflammation, immunity, and atherosclerosis. Plasma PTX3 level has drawn attention as a marker that responds to local inflammation. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a chronic inflammatory disorder which can affect multiple organs, develops atherosclerosis prematurely. We examined the hypotheses that the concentration of plasma PTX3 increases in patients with SLE and that PTX3 is associated with the disease activity and premature atherosclerosis.

Methods

Plasma PTX3 concentrations were measured in 65 patients with SLE and 53 control subjects. The patients were also evaluated with respect to their clinical characteristics, disease activity indices, and corticosteroid therapy. We performed carotid ultrasonography to measure subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with SLE.

Results

Plasma PTX3 concentration of the SLE patients was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls (median 3.9 vs. 2.0 ng/mL, p < 0.001). In patients with SLE, PTX3 concentrations were correlated with SLEDAI (p = 0.011), BILAG index (p < 0.001), C-reactive protein (p < 0.001), anemia (p = 0.020), hypoalbuminemia (p = 0.022), and daily dose of prednisolone (p = 0.008) after adjustment for age and sex. PTX3 was not associated with disease duration, anti-ds DNA antibody, CH50, or carotid atherosclerosis.

Conclusions

Patients with SLE have increased concentrations of PTX3 compared with control subjects. PTX3 was significantly associated with disease activity but not with carotid atherosclerosis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Daisuke Ikuma, Ms. Yukari Yamada and Ms. Kozue Watanabe for their technical support. We also appreciate Ms. Yoshimi Aizaki for her secretarial assistance. Dr. Asanuma was partly supported by research grants from The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology and Applied Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Saitama Medical University, 38 Morohongo, Moroyama-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama, 350-0495, Japan

    Yuki Shimada, Yu Funakubo Asanuma, Kazuhiro Yokota, Yoshihiro Yoshida, Hiroshi Kajiyama, Kojiro Sato, Yuji Akiyama & Toshihide Mimura

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  1. Yuki Shimada
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  2. Yu Funakubo Asanuma
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  3. Kazuhiro Yokota
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Correspondence to Yu Funakubo Asanuma.

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Shimada, Y., Asanuma, Y.F., Yokota, K. et al. Pentraxin 3 is associated with disease activity but not atherosclerosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Mod Rheumatol (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10165-013-0830-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10165-013-0830-2

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