Objectives: To evaluate serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to assess the correlations of this cytokine with clinical and laboratory parameters. | Journal of military pharmaco-medicine n08-2017 THE CHANGES IN SERUM TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR ALPHA IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS Nguyen Huy Thong*; Doan Van De*; Nguyen Dang Dung** SUMMARY Objectives: To evaluate serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to assess the correlations of this cytokine with clinical and laboratory parameters. Subjects and methods: 86 patients with RA and 30 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Disease activity was determined by disease activity score (DAS28) in patients with RA. The serum levels of TNF-α cytokine was measured by fluorescence covalent microbead immunosorbent assay (FCMIA). Results: Serum TNF-α levels was significantly decreased in RA patients comparing with controls (p ). Patient global assessment of disease activity and provider global assessment of disease activity were evaluated using a 10-cm horizontal visual analog scale (VAS). We also calculated SDAI (Simplified Disease Activity Index) and CDAI (Clinical Disease Activity Index). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were recorded. * Laboratory analysis: Blood samples of patients and controls were collected and put in a sterile plain tube and stored frozen at -80oC until analysis. We used commercially available human fluorescence covalent microbead immunosorbent assay (FCMIA) kits for IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α (R&D systems MN, USA). The procedure for the FCMIA method was performed according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. The levels of cytokines were recorded as a pg/mL. * Statistical analysis: All statistical analyses were performed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS), version , for Windows (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Continuous variables are presented as the mean ± standard deviation or median. The normality of the distribution for all variables was assessed by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Intergroup comparisons were made using the
