The purpose of this study was to examine whether glucosamine has an antirheumatic effect in a randomized placebo-controlled study. The subjects were 51 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients: 25 patients in the glucosamine group and 26 patients in the placebo group. Glucosamine hydrochloride at a daily dose of 1,500 mg and placebo, respectively, were administered for 12 weeks along with conventional medication. While significant improvement was not found in joint counts and in the rate of ACR20 responders, the face scale and a visual analogue scale pain were significantly in favor of the glucosamine group. ESR and CRP levels did not change, but serum MMP-3 levels decreased in the glucosamine group. Results of the patients' self-evaluations and the physicians' global evaluations indicated that the glucosamine treatment produced noticeable improvements in symptoms. Although glucosamine administration had no antirheumatic effect evaluated by conventional measures, it seemed to have some symptomatic effects on RA.
The N/L ratio is a marker of disease activity in RA. The ΔN/L ratio reflects the efficacy of biological agents but does not predict the response to biological agents.
We here report different protein profiles of BMACs between RA and OA for the first time. BMACs possessing differently expressed proteins may be involved in the pathophysiology of the two diseases.
To clarify how the osteoarthritis (OA)-induced catabolic factor interleukin (IL)-1β affects chondrocyte energy metabolism, and especially to define the downstream pathway linking nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent deacetylase Sirtuin-1 (Sirt-1) to energy metabolism in OA chondrocytes. Human chondrocytes were isolated from articular cartilage samples of patients with OA. The level of energy metabolism of OA chondrocytes was evaluated by monitoring the activity of the energy metabolic sensor, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and the level of production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in chondrocytes in the presence or absence of t IL-1β (10 ng/mL). Effects of IL-1β on anabolic and catabolic activities of chondrocytes were analyzed by the levels of production of proteoglycan and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-13, respectively. Experiments involving pre-treatment with Sirt-1 inhibitor were also performed to investigate the underlying regulatory mechanism linking Sirt-1 to chondrocyte energy metabolism. IL-1β significantly inhibited the activity of AMPK and production of ATP in OA chondrocytes. The energy metabolism disruption mediated by IL-1β was further decreased by pretreatment with Sirt-1 inhibitor in OA chondrocytes. Treatment with IL-1β significantly decreased the level of proteoglycan production and significantly increased the level of MMP-13 secretion by chondrocytes. These chondrocyte activities were also reduced by pre-treatment with the Sirt-1 inhibitor in OA chondrocytes. IL-1β inhibits the AMPK -ATP energy metabolic pathway in OA chondrocytes. Our findings also suggest that Sirt-1 activity is involved in anabolic and catabolic cellular activities and that Sirt-1 modulates ATP production through functional regulation of the energy sensor AMPK in chondrocytes.
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