Serum levels of TNF-α and osteoprotegerin and bone mineral density in patients with Behçet’s Disease

Objectives: Osteoporosis is commonly developed due tonatural course of Behçet’s disease (BD) and therapeuticagents. It was aimed to investigate levels of osteoprotegerinand TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor), and bone mineral density(BMD) and correlation between them in BD.Materials and methods: The study included two groupsas the study and the control group. Serum levels of TNF-α,osteoprotegerin, osteocalcine, erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and urinary creatinine anddeoxypyridinoline along with BMD level were evaluated andcompared. Correlation between TNF-α and osteoprotegerinlevel was investigated.Results: The study enrolled 41 BD patients and 36 agedmatchedcontrol subjects. Mean age was 42.26±11.64 and41.66±70.99, in the study and control groups, respectively.There was no significant difference in body mass index(BMI) of subjects between groups (p>0.05). Level of TNF-α(p<0.001), deoxypyridinoline (p<0.001) and osteocalcine(p=0.041) was significantly higher in the study group comparedto the control group. Osteoprotegerin was lower inBD patients, but the difference was not significant (p>0.05).Urinary deoxypyridinoline/ urinary creatinine ratio in patientswith BD was significantly higher than those in control group(p=0.030). Patients had significantly lower BMD comparfedto the control group, except L2-L4 vertebral area (p<0.001,p<0.001, p=0.035, p<0.001, p=0.012, p<0.001, p<0.001 andp=0.111, respectively). No correlation was found betweenTNF-α and osteoprotegerin.Conclusions: The present study indicated that TNF-α andBMD was negatively correlated with each other and TNF-αhad an effect on osteoporotic process in patients with BD.Osteoprotegerin level was not decreased, and not correlatedwith TNF-α.Key words: Behçet’s disease, osteoprotegerin, TNF-α, osteocalcin

Thiol/disulfide homeostasis in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease. In many inflammatory diseases, increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines is associated with an increase in oxidative stress mediators. Thiol/disulfide homeostasis is a marker for oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to examine the dynamic thiol/disulfide homeostasis in AS. Sixty-nine patients with AS and 60 age- and sex-matched controls were included in the study. The Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and visual analogue scale (VAS) were used to determine the disease activity. Native thiol, total thiol, and disulfide levels were measured with a novel automated method recently described by Erel and Neselioglu. The aforementioned method is also optionally manual spectrophotometric assay. The total thiol levels were significantly lower in the AS group compared with the control group (p = 0.03). When the patients were divided into active (n = 35) and inactive (n = 34) subgroups using BASDAI scores, the native plasma thiol and total thiol levels were significantly lower in the active AS patients compared to the inactive AS patients (p = 0.02, p = 0.03 respectively). There was a negative correlation between the plasma native thiol levels and VAS, BASDAI scores. Thiol/disulfide homeostasis may be used for elucidating the effects of oxidative stress in AS. Understanding the role of thiol/disulfide homeostasis in AS might provide new therapeutic intervention strategies for patients