Decreased Circulating Visfatin Is Associated with Improved Disease Activity in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: Data from the PERAC Cohort

Objective To evaluate circulating visfatin and its relationship with disease activity and serum lipids in patients with early, treatment-naïve rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Serum visfatin was measured in 40 patients with early RA before and after three months of treatment and in 30 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals. Disease activity was assessed using the Disease Activity Score for 28 joints (DAS28) at baseline and at three and 12 months. Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate whether improved disease activity is related to serum visfatin or a change in visfatin level. Results Serum visfatin was significantly elevated in early RA patients compared to healthy controls (1.92±1.17 vs. 1.36±0.93 ng/ml; p = 0.034) and significantly decreased after three months of treatment (to 0.99±0.67 ng/ml; p<0.001). Circulating visfatin and a change in visfatin level correlated with disease activity and improved disease activity over time, respectively. A decrease in visfatin after three months predicted a DAS28 improvement after 12 months. In addition, decreased serum visfatin was not associated with an improved atherogenic index but was associated with an increase in total cholesterol level. Conclusion A short-term decrease in circulating visfatin may represent an independent predictor of long-term disease activity improvement in patients with early RA.

[1]  F. Mohamed,et al.  Visfatin and adiponectin as novel markers for evaluation of metabolic disturbance in recently diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients , 2013, Rheumatology International.

[2]  D. Scherman,et al.  Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase/visfatin expression by inflammatory monocytes mediates arthritis pathogenesis , 2013, Annals of the rheumatic diseases.

[3]  Yu-Hung Chang,et al.  Visfatin in overweight/obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases: a meta‐analysis and systemic review , 2011, Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews.

[4]  T. Huizinga,et al.  Baseline serum adipokine levels predict radiographic progression in early rheumatoid arthritis. , 2011, Arthritis and rheumatism.

[5]  J. Vencovský,et al.  The level of serum visfatin (PBEF) is associated with total number of B cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and decreases following B cell depletion therapy. , 2011, Cytokine.

[6]  T. Pincus,et al.  Adipocytokines are associated with radiographic joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis. , 2009, Arthritis and rheumatism.

[7]  P. Dessein,et al.  High-grade inflammation, circulating adiponectin concentrations and cardiovascular risk factors in severe rheumatoid arthritis. , 2008, Clinical and experimental rheumatology.

[8]  J. Smolen,et al.  The need for prognosticators in rheumatoid arthritis. Biological and clinical markers: where are we now? , 2008, Arthritis research & therapy.

[9]  S. Gay,et al.  The role of resident synovial cells in destructive arthritis. , 2008, Best practice & research. Clinical rheumatology.

[10]  Z. Malam,et al.  Pre‐B cell colony‐enhancing factor (PBEF)/visfatin: a novel mediator of innate immunity , 2008, Journal of leukocyte biology.

[11]  P. Dessein,et al.  Anti-TNF-α therapy modulates resistin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis , 2008 .

[12]  R. Gay,et al.  Pre-B cell colony-enhancing factor/visfatin, a new marker of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis with proinflammatory and matrix-degrading activities. , 2007, Arthritis and rheumatism.

[13]  C. Fielding,et al.  Regulation of pre-B cell colony-enhancing factor by STAT-3-dependent interleukin-6 trans-signaling: implications in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. , 2006, Arthritis and rheumatism.

[14]  J. Gómez-Reino,et al.  Changes in plasma levels of fat-derived hormones adiponectin, leptin, resistin and visfatin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis , 2006, Annals of the rheumatic diseases.

[15]  M. Matsuda,et al.  Visfatin: a protein secreted by visceral fat that mimics the effects of insulin. , 2005, Science.

[16]  A. Zwinderman,et al.  Synovial tissue macrophages: a sensitive biomarker for response to treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis , 2004, Annals of the rheumatic diseases.

[17]  S. van der Linden,et al.  Influence of glucocorticoids and disease activity on total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in patients with rheumatoid arthritis , 2003, Annals of the rheumatic diseases.

[18]  I McNiece,et al.  Cloning and characterization of the cDNA encoding a novel human pre-B-cell colony-enhancing factor , 1994, Molecular and cellular biology.

[19]  C. Wijbrandts,et al.  Clinical and epidemiological research , 2012 .

[20]  M. González-Gay,et al.  Visfatin is not associated with inflammation or metabolic syndrome in patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis undergoing anti-TNF-alpha therapy. , 2010, Clinical and experimental rheumatology.

[21]  A. Silman,et al.  UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) 2010 Rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: an American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative Aletaha, , 2010 .

[22]  A. Silman,et al.  Rheumatoid arthritis classifi cation criteria : an American College of Rheumatology / European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative , 2010 .

[23]  M. González-Gay,et al.  Anti-TNF-alpha therapy modulates resistin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. , 2008, Clinical and experimental rheumatology.