SERUM KERATAN SULFATE LEVELS IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - INVERSE CORRELATION WITH RADIOGRAPHIC STAGING

Objective. To correlate the serum levels of keratan sulfate (KS) in pa tients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with different clinical and radi ographic variables. Methods. Serum KS levels were measured in 85 patie nts with RA and 41 age matched controls. Patients with RA were classif ied according to their disease activity, the presence of rheumatoid fa ctor, the medication prescribed, and to the severity of the joint radi ographic changes: Results. Patients with RA had significantly (p < 0.0 2) higher levels of serum KS compared to the healthy controls. More si gnificantly, there was an inverse correlation of the serum KS levels w ith the disease activity (p = 0.02) and the severity of the radiograph ic changes (p = 0.012). Conclusions. Serum KS levels appear to correla te with the severity of articular cartilage damage in RA.