Endothelial progenitor cells and colony-forming units in rheumatoid arthritis: association with clinical characteristics

Abstract

These findings indicate that more informative than comparing changes in absolute levels of EPCs, the examination of their relationship with clinical characteristics of RA patients can reveal significant associations, which may provide important clinical insights.

Endothelial progenitor cell dysfunction in rheumatic disease

“…Levels of hemangio blastic EPCs showed an inverse corre lation with the RA disease activity score 28-joint count (DAS-28), 43 erythrocyte sedimentation rate and serum rheumatoid factor levels. 42 Together, these results support a negative influence of disease activity on EPC levels. The levels of monocytic EPCs were also reduced in RA patients with varying degrees of disease activity, 42,43,45 although this decrease failed to reach statistical significance in patients with low disease activity in one study.…”

“…Levels of hemangioblastic EPCs in patients with RA were lower compared with controls in several studies, although these differences did not reach statistical signifi cance in all instances, [42][43][44][45][46] and one study failed to find any difference. 46 Grisar et al 43 found lower levels of hemangio blastic EPCs in RA patients with active disease compared with patients with low disease activity, whose levels were comparable to those of healthy controls.…”

Endothelial Progenitor Cells: New Targets to Control Autoimmune Disorders

“…Some studies have reported a lower circulating EPC number in RA patients compared with controls (Grisar et al, 2005, Herbrig et al, 2006, whilst others report higher numbers (Jodon de Villeroche et al, 2010) and a few report no differences (Egan et al, 2008, Kuwana et al, 2004. A schematic of a potential role for EPCs in RA is depicted in Figure 1 (upper panel).…”

Endothelial Progenitor Cell Number: A Convergence of Cardiovascular Risk Factors

“…However, the patients with RA that are at particular cardiovascular risk are those with active disease and high disease activity scores (Grisar, Aletaha et al 2005). EPC numbers and EPC proliferative capacity show an inverse correlation with disease activity scores (Grisar, Aletaha et al 2005;Herbrig, Haensel et al 2006;Egan, Caporali et al 2008). The increased risk of cardiovascular events is not limited to RA and has been described in other inflammatory states such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (Urowitz, Bookman et al 1976;Roman, Shanker et al 2003), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (van Leuven, Sankatsing et al 2007), inflammatory bowel disease (Danese and Fiocchi 2003) or periodontitis (Mattila, Nieminen et al 1989).…”