Elevated autoantibodies against interleukin-17F correlate with disease activity in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the presence of autoantibodies (aAbs) against interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-17F and observe whether anti-IL-17A or IL-17F aAbs are associated with disease activity in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA).

Methods: At present, 60 patients with ERA, 72 patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and 61 healthy controls (HC) have been included in a database. Clinical assessment and laboratory data were recorded. We detected the titer of aAbs against IL-17A and IL-17F using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and analyzed the correlation of these aAbs in patients with ERA.

Results: Our results showed that the levels of aAbs against IL-17A and IL-17F were significantly higher in ERA OA and HC (P < 0.0001). The level of aAbs against IL-17F was correlated with Disease Activity Score-28 erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P = 0.0457) and ESR alone (P = 0.0032) in patients with ERA. In addition, in the ERA group, the level of C-reactive protein and rheumatoid factor immunoglobulin M was lower in patients with aAbs against IL-17F than patients without aAbs (P = 0.0247; P = 0.0439). No significant correlation was observed between the clinical characteristics and level of aAbs against IL-17A in patients with ERA except ESR (P = 0.0239).

Conclusions: Elevated aAbs against IL-17F correlate with disease activity in patients with ERA. This evidence suggests that anti-IL-17F aAbs may have a protective role in the pathogenesis of ERA.

Keywords: C-reactive protein; DAS-28; IL-17; autoantibody; erythrocyte sedimentation rate; rheumatoid arthritis.