Relationship between serum calprotectin (S100A8/9) and clinical, laboratory and ultrasound parameters of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis: A large cohort study

BackgroundCalprotectin may be a sensitive biomarker of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity.ObjectivesIn the current study, we investigated whether calprotectin is a better biomarker than CRP for predicting clinical activity and ultrasound parameters in patients with RA.MethodsA total of 160 patients with RA underwent clinical (swollen joint count—SJC, tender joint count—TJC, Disease Activity Score—DAS28, Clinical Disease Activity Index—CDAI, and simplified Disease Activity Index—SDAI) and ultrasound (German US7) examination. Clinical and laboratory measures were correlated with ultrasound findings using Spearman´s correlation coefficient. Differences in serum calprotectin levels in patients with variable disease activity according to the DAS28-ESR and CDAI scores were assessed using ANOVA. Multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the predictive values of calprotectin, CRP and SJC for CDAI and PD US synovitis scores.ResultsSerum calprotectin was significantly associated with DAS28-ESR (r = 0.321, pConclusionsThe results of this study support an additional role of calprotectin in assessing inflammatory activity in patients with RA.