Objective To detect the expressions of soluble programmed death receptor-1 (sPD-1) and interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) in the serum of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to explore their clinical significance.
Methods A total of 100 RA patients (RA group) were selected as study objects, including 50 patients in remission stage (remission RA group) and 50 patients in active stage (active RA group). In addition, 50 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) who received treatment during the same period (OA group) and 50 healthy people who underwent physical examination (control group) were selected. The venous blood was collected, and serum was separated, and the expression levels of sPD-1, IRF4, interleukin-4 (IL-4), interleukin-17 (IL-17) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) in serum of subjects were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the correlations of serum sPD-1, IRF4 levels with serum IL-4, IL-17, IFN-γ levels in RA patients were analyzed by Pearson method.
Results Compared with the control group, the levels of serum sPD-1, IRF4, IL-4, IL-17 and IFN-γ of subjects in the OA and RA groups were significantly increased (P < 0.05); compared with the OA group, the levels of serum sPD-1, IRF4, IL-4, IL-17, and IFN-γ in the RA group were significantly increased (P < 0.05); compared with the remission RA group, the levels of serum sPD-1 and IRF4 in the active RA group were significantly increased (P < 0.05); the level of serum sPD-1 in RA patients was positively correlated with the levels of serum IL-4, IL-17, and IFN-γ (P < 0.05); the level of serum IRF4 in RA patients were positively correlated with the levels of serum IL-4, IL-17 and IFN-γ (P < 0.05).
Conclusion The expression levels of sPD-1 and IRF4 in the serum of RA patients are elevated, they are related to disease activity and abnormal levels of inflammatory factors in the patients, and have the potential to become new therapeutic targets.
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