Bone changes and curative effect of infliximab in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

OBJECTIVES: To study the bone changes and curative effect of infliximab in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS: AS patients diagnosed and treated in Wuwei People’s Hospital from January 2017 to March 2018 were collected as the study subjects of this study, and the patients were divided into INF group (n=40) and MTX group (n=40) according to the random number table. The expression levels of TNF-α and IL-33 before and after treatment were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and bone changes before and after treatment were compared between the two groups. The ROC curves of TNF-α and IL-33 for efficacy prediction of AS were drawn and analyzed. RESULTS: After treatment, the expression levels of serum TNF-α and IL-33 in patients in INF group were significantly lower than those in MTX group (P<0.001), and the improvement of bone erosion and tendon thickening in INF group was markedly higher than that in MTX group (P<0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) of TNF-α for predicting efficacy was 0.939, and that of IL-33 was 0.853. CONCLUSIONS: Infliximab can significantly improve the bone status and has a positive effect in patients with AS, and TNF-α and IL-33 are expected to be used as efficacy predictors of AS.