ABSTRACT

Background: The immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), causing a cascade of symptoms such as joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and even functional damage. In this study, we aimed to predict RA by investigating the circulating serum levels of Caveolin-1 (CAV1) and Interleukin-37 (IL-37). Methods: The current case-control study was conducted on 46 volunteers (13 men and 33 women) who experiencing RA and divided into two groups: 26 patients in Active RA State (7 men and 19 women) and 20 patients in Remission (Stable) RA State (6 men and 14 women) and corresponded with 30 apparently healthy group (12 men and 18 women) aged 25 to 70 years. Demographics, glucose, insulin, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), urea, creatinine, rheumatoid factor (RF), c-reactive protein (CRP), CAV1, and IL-37 levels were compared between groups. Results: In comparison to the healthy group, RA patients (both in active and remission states) had significantly higher levels of serum RF, CRP, and IL-37, also a significant low level of CAV1 (p<0.01). The only metrics with which CAV1 and IL-37 showed a positive association were RF and CRP; however, no significant correlations were found with the other parameters (p>0.05). Predicting biomarkers for RA patients may be easier using RF, CRP, CAV1, and IL-37, according to the results of area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC). Conclusion: The correlation between Cav-1 and IL-37 was significantly inverse. These results provide credence to the idea that CAV1 and IL-37 could be a part in early diagnosis of RA.