TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR-ALPHA LEVEL IN SERA OF SOUTH INDIAN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS: CORRELATION WITH ANTICYCLIC CITRULLINATED PEPTIDE ANTIBODY LEVEL

Objective: The present study was aimed to find out the anticyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody level and expression level Th2 cytokine-liketumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from South India.Methods: The patients attending the Arthritis and Rheumatism Care Centre, Vadapalani, Chennai and healthy individuals from the Presidency College, Chennai, were enrolled for this study. The study group included 74 patients with RA and 50 healthy individuals without history of RA. 3-5 ml of blood samples was aseptically collected using Vacutainer, and the separated serum samples were transported to the Department of Microbiology, Presidency College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in cold chain. Anti-CCP antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum concentrations of TNF-α were studied in patients with RA and in healthy controls, using an ELISA method.Results: The results of anti-CCP enzyme immunoassay revealed that out of 74 patients, all were anti-CCP positive, which included 65 females and 9 males. Higher levels of anti-CCP (456 IU/ml) were present in the age group between 41 and 50 followed by 21-30 years age group which shows 335.28 IU/ml of anti-CCP antibody level. The level of serum TNF-α was measured in the range of 4.6-1082.84 pg/ml for RA patients and6.630-459.74 pg/ml for the healthy control group.Conclusion: TNF-α levels were significantly increased in RA patients compared to healthy individuals. A negative correlation was found between anti- CCP antibody and TNF-α level in RA patients.Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Tumor necrosis factor-alpha, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodie