Volume 25 , Issue 2 , December 2023 , Pages 430-440
Bahramand Babatahir Marouf 1 ; Kawa Amin 2 ; Heshu Sulaiman Rahman 3
1 Department of Microbiology/Immunology, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
2 Department of Medical Science, Respiratory Medicine, and Allergology, Uppsala University and University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden
3 Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a multifactorial autoimmune disease with
unknown etiology that mainly affects synovial joints Objectives: To compare the level
of serum biomarkers (Wnt5a, anti-SMA, FGF23, and anti-CCP) in RA patients and
healthy control. Methodology: This case-control study was conducted on 88 patients
with RA and 88 normal healthy individuals at the Rheumatology Center, Sulaimaniyah,
from November 2021 to November 2022. A detailed questionnaire for the collection of
sociodemographic measures was filled out for each participant. Then, the levels of
Wnt5a, anti-SMA, FGF23, and anti-CCP were determined using the ELISA technique.
Results: The patients reported higher levels of ESR and CRP than healthy controls. Most
patients (63.7%) had moderate disease activity concerning DAS-28. There was a highly
significant difference (p<0.001) between patients’ serum Wnt5a, FGF23, and anti-CCP
levels compared to healthy controls except for anti-SMA. Additionally, there was a
significant correlation between Wnt5a and FGF23 (p<0.001); Wnt5a and anti-SMA
(p<0.001); FGF23 and anti-SMA (p<0.001). Finally, no correlation between the DAS-28
score and biomarkers was seen in RA patients. Conclusions: There was no significant
correlation in the patient’s serum Wnt5a, FGF23, anti-SMA, and anti-CCP with different
age groups, duration of RA and joint involvements.