Biological markers in inflammatory rheumatic diseases.

TL;DRAbstract

Biological markers of inflammation are useful for the diagnosis and the monitoring of inflammatory rheumatisms and connective tissue diseases. These markers are not specific, and often poorly correlate with the long term evolution of the disease. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive marker, and is used to monitor inflammatory and infectious diseases. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), CRP correlates with disease activity and response to therapy, and CRP levels are influenced by disease-modifying drugs and corticosteroids. Serum amyloid A (SAA) is another acute phase protein (APP) which appears in RA as a more sensitive marker than CRP. Several antinuclear antibodies serve as markers of systemic disorders; they are not implicated in the disease by themselves, but their production could be related to the genetic background underlying the pathogenesis of the disease. In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the titer of anti-ds DNA antibodies often correlates with disease activity. DNA is poo

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper