Involvement of Hydrogen Peroxide Formation on Apoptosis Induction by Olive Oil Phenolic Compounds

In the present investigation the ability of different phenolic compounds, either present or not in olive oil, to induce both apoptosis on tumour cells and H 2 O 2 accumulation in cell culture medium was assesed. Among the phenols studied we found that tyrosol ( p -HPEA), homovanillic alcohol and protocatechuic, o-coumaric, vanillic, homovanillic, ferulic and syringic acids did not induce either apoptosis on HL60 cells or H 2 O 2 accumulation, while hydroxytyrosol (3,4-DHPEA), 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (3,4-DHPA), 3,4-dihydroxy-hydrocinnamic acid (3,4-DHHC) and gallic acid induced both apoptosis and accumulation of H 2 O 2 in the culture medium which were significantly reduced b

Cartilage turnover markers are predictive of ACR70 response to anti-TNF alfa treatment in RA-patients

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has a variable course with a wide range of potential outcomes, making it difficult to predict disease progression and magnitude of therapeutic response. The possibility to identify rapid versus slow responders at an early stage, has the potential to improve the care of the patients Objectives: To investigate in RA patients the possibility to apply a combination of markers reflecting different basic disease mechanisms to improve ability to predict rapid and sustained clinical response to anti-TFN treatment. Methods: 81 out of 85 consecutive RA patients were monitored in accordance with a structured protocol during three different anti-TNF therapies and were tested for serum Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein (COMP) and C-Reactive protein (CRP) at baseline. 35 pts were treated with Adalimumab, 30 with Infliximab and 20 with Etanercept (4 serum samples were excluded because of incomplete data). The response to the therapy was evaluated by ACR20,50, 70. CRP was used to describe systemic inflammation and COMP to describe cartilage turnover. Levels of COMP were tested by using a commercial sandwich immunoassay (AnaMar Medical, Sweden) and levels below 10 U/L were considered as low cartilage turnover. CRP levels exceeding 10 ug/ml were considered as elevated. The outcome of the two markers was combined to investigate a possible synergy between the markers. Results: We could not find any difference in ACR20 between the two groups with low or elevated baseline COMP levels, at any time points. However, the percentage of ACR70 responders was significantly (p<0.005) higher in the group of patients with low COMP levels, at 3 months follow up. The percentage of ACR70 responders did not increase at 6 months for patients with low COMP at baseline in contrast to the patients with higher COMP. At 12 months there was no differences between the two groups. The percentage of ACR 70 responders in the group with normal cartilage turnover was high (38% at three months) but did not increase over time, in contrast to the group with elevated cartilage turnover that significantly (p<0.05) increased the percentage of ACR 70 response over time. The patient groups did not differ significantly in disease activity at baseline. Table 1. Comparison of percentage of ACR 70 responders at 3 months, at 6 months, at 12 months, in groups selected at baseline status of in vitro tests Group 3 months 6 months 12 months Mean value all patients (n=81) 20% 24% 31% COMP Normal (basal) (n=26) 38% ** 35% 42% COMP Elevated (basal) (n=55) 11% 18%* 27%* P-values are indicated by * for p<0.05 and ** for p<0.005 and shows the significance between groups with normal and elevated marker levels Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that the outcome of COMP may be helpful to the treating physician when considering continued observation or modification of the current treatment. References: G. Morozzi, F. Bellisai, M. Fabbroni, S. Cucini, M. R. Bacarelli, M. Galeazzi: Levels of circulating COMP and anti-CCP in RA patients treated with adalimumab: Ann Rheum Dis 2005; 64: 10

Validation of a new immunoenzymatic method to detect antibodies to RNA polymerase III in systemic sclerosis

Objective To test the reliability of a new enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to identify anti-RNA polymerase III (RNAP III) positive sera from Italian patients with Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and other chronic inflammatory disorders. Methods A comparison between the new ELISA for anti-RNAP III and the gold standard technique, immunoprecipitation (IP), was first performed on 106 SSc patients, 16 patients with other connective tissue diseases and 10 healthy subjects. A further ELISA evaluation was performed on 224 SSc patients, 120 subjects with other rheumatic or infectious diseases, and 81 healthy controls. Results Plotting ELISA and IP data in a Receiver Operator Characteristic curve, the ELISA cut-off value providing the best specificity (99.1%) and sensibility (100%) was 28 U/ml (AUC = 0.999; p < 0.0001). Using this cut-off in the second analysis, anti-RNAP III positive results were found in 41 (18.3%) SSc patients, all negative for anticentromere or anti-topoisomerase I antibodies, while only 3 subjects tested positive among the 120 sera collected from other patients. All the healthy subjects were negative. Conclusion This new ELISA for anti-RNAP III is highly accurate when a proper cut-off value is employed and represents a valid substitute to IP in a clinical setting