Tumour necrosis factor, tumour necrosis factor receptor I and II and acute phase response markers in ankylosing spondylitis patients

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory, rheumatological disease affecting primarily the sacroiliac joint and vertebral column. Some clinical and laboratory parameters such as some acute reactive proteins are frequently used to determine the disease activity. Cytokines are soluble proteins that have specific roles in the inflammatory response. This study aimed to evaluate the relation between the level of some acute phase proteins such as C-reactive protein, acid a1-glycoprotein, a1-antichymotrypsin, transferrin, the cytokine tumour necrosis factor-a, and soluble receptors of tumour necrosis factor TNF-RI and TNF-RII, and the clinical findings of patients with AS compared to healthy subjects. In our study we found a correlation between TNF-α levels and AGP and OB as well as a positive correlation between TNF-RI and TNF-RII in our group of patients. We did not find any correlation between BASDAI, BASG-6, BASG-t and acute phase protein. There were also no correlations between TNF-RI and TNF-RII and BASMI and BASDAI.