High Level Serum Procalcitonin Associated Gouty Arthritis Susceptibility: From a Southern Chinese Han Population

OBJECTIVES: To study the serum Procalcitonin (PCT) level in inflammatory arthritis including gouty arthritis (GA), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) without any evidence of infection were evaluated the possible discriminative role of PCT in gouty arthritis susceptibility in southern Chinese Han Population. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From Feb, 2012 to Feb, 2015, 51 patients with GA, 37 patients with RA, 41 patients with AS and 33 healthy control were enrolled in this study with no evidence of infections. The serum level of PCT (normal range < 0.05 ng/ml) was measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA). Disease activity was determined by scores of VAS (4.07 ± 1.15), DAS28 (4.97 ± 1.12), and ASDAS (2.97 ± 0.81) in GA, RA and AS groups respectively. Other laboratory parameters such as, serum creatinine (CRE), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), uric acid (UA) and white blood cells (WBC) were extracted from medical record system. RESULTS: Serum PCT level was predominantly higher in gouty arthritis than in RA and AS patients, especially in the GA patients with tophi. PCT was significantly positively correlated with VAS, CRP and ESR in gouty arthritis and CRP in AS. PCT also had positive correlation-ship with ESR, DAS28 and ASDAS in RA and AS patients respectively, but significant differences were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggested that PCT is not solely a biomarker for infection, but also an indicator in inflammatory arthritis, especially in gouty arthritis.