Combination of Uric Acid and Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines in Discriminating Patients with Gout from Healthy Controls

OBJECTIVE: The aim of present study was to explore whether the combination of serum uric acid and pro-inflammatory cytokines could improve the accuracy of diagnosis of gout. METHODS: A total of 94 patients with gout were selected as the patient group, and 52 healthy subjects were selected as the control group. Serum levels of uric acid and pro-inflammatory cytokines (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) were measured in both groups. Correlation between serum uric acid and pro-inflammatory cytokines was assessed using Pearson correlation analysis. The area under curve (AUC) of CRP, IL-6, TNF-α combined with uric acid for the diagnosis of gout were evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve method. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the levels of serum uric acid, CRP, TNF-α and IL-6 were significantly increased in the patients. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between serum uric acid and CRP (r = 0.179, P = 0.033), IL-6 (r = 0.194, P = 0.039), and TNF-α (r = 0.496, P < 0.001) levels. Furthermore, the AUCs of CRP, IL-6, TNF-α combined with uric acid level for the diagnosis of gout were 0.932, 0.884, and 0.972, respectively. Additionally, the AUC for the combination of uric acid, CRP, and TNF-α was 0.982 in discriminating patients with gout from healthy volunteers. CONCLUSION: The combination of serum uric acid and pro-inflammatory cytokines could improve the accuracy of diagnosis of gout.