PTPN22 is one of the highest confidence direct targets of Foxp3. ACPA- RA patients, ACPA+ cases experienced greater imbalances between peripheral CD4+ Mouse monoclonal to p53 T cell subsets, mainly manifested as an increase in T-helper 1 (Th1) cells ( 0.001) and decrease in regulatory T (Treg) cells (= 0.029). This makes these patients more prone to inflammatory reactions and joint erosion. MMP-3 levels in ACPA+ and ACPA- RA patients were significantly higher than in HCs ( 0.001), and MMP-3 could effectively distinguish between ACPA- RA patients and HCs (area under the curve [AUC] = Nevirapine (Viramune) 0.930, sensitivity 84.14%, specificity 92.11%). MMP-3 was also a serum marker for distinguishing between RA patients with low and high disease activities. Further analysis showed that MMP-3 was positively correlated with the levels of inflammatory markers and disease activity, and negatively correlated with the levels of lymphocyte subsets. In addition, with improvements in the disease, MMP-3 levels decreased, and further increased as the patients started to deteriorate. In summary, our research showed that there was a moderate imbalance between peripheral CD4+ T cell subsets in ACPA- RA patients. MMP-3 may be used as a potential marker for early diagnosis of ACPA- RA. MMP-3 was an important index for RA disease evaluation, disease activity stratification, and prognosis. = 0.005), but a lower proportion of smoking (= 0.001).?The proportion of morning stiffness (= 0.015), joint deformity (= 0.015), and interstitial lung Nevirapine (Viramune) disease (ILD) (= 0.001) in ACPA+ RA patients was significantly higher than in ACPA- RA patients, and disease activity score using 28 joint counts (DAS28)-ESR (3) also showed an increasing pattern (= 0.120). WBC (= 0.013), ESR (= 0.001), RF positivity ( 0.001) and IgA (= 0.012) levels in ACPA+ RA patients were significantly higher than in ACPA- RA patients. Table?1 Demographic characteristics and laboratory values between ACPA+ RA, ACPA- RA patients and healthy controls. value= 0.446). The percentage of CD4+ T cells in ACPA+ RA patients was higher than in HCs (= 0.031), but was much like ACPA- RA patients (= 0.622). Similarly, there were no significant differences in the complete number and percentage of CD8+ T cells (= 0.366 and 0.113, respectively), CD19+ B cells (= 0.608 and 0.682, respectively), and NK cells (= 0.128 and 0.233, respectively) among the three groups. We further analyzed the complete figures and percentages of CD4+ T cell subsets, including Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg cells. The complete number and percentage of Th1 cells in ACPA+ RA patients were significantly higher compared to ACPA- RA patients and HCs ( 0.001), while the complete number and percentage of Treg cells in ACPA+ and ACPA- RA patients were lower compared to HCs ( 0.05). Notably, the percentage of Treg cells in Nevirapine (Viramune) ACPA+ RA patients was even lower than in ACPA- RA (= 0.003). The Th1/Th2, Th17/Treg, and Th1/Treg ratios were also significantly increased in ACPA+ RA patients compared to ACPA- RA patients and HCs ( 0.05). Nevirapine (Viramune) Open in a separate window Figure?2 Comparison of the lymphocyte subsets and CD4+ T cell subsets between Nevirapine (Viramune) ACPA+ RA, ACPA- RA patients and HCs. * 0.05, ** 0.01. MMP-3 levels in RA patients and healthy controls Serum MMP-3 levels were detected in RA patients and HCs by chemiluminescence analysis (Physique?3A). The results showed that MMP-3 levels in RA patients, including ACPA+ and ACPA- patients, were significantly higher than in HCs ( 0.001), but there was no significant difference between the two RA groups (= 0.697). In addition, we evaluated the ability of MMP-3 to distinguish ACPA+ RA patients, ACPA- RA patients, and all RA patients from HCs using the ROC curve (Table?2; Physique?3B). We found that MMP-3 experienced a similar ability to distinguish between the three RA groups and HCs: the AUCs were 0.917 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.877C0.957; 0.01), 0.930 (95% CI 0.892C0.968; 0.01), and 0.923 (95% CI 0.891C0.956; 0.01), respectively. Open in a separate window Physique?3 MMP-3 levels between RA patients and healthy controls (A), receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) of MMP-3 levels to distinguish RA patients from HCs (B). **p 0.01. Table?2 Diagnostic accuracy of MMP-3.