GALECTIN-3 AS POTENTIAL SEROLOGICAL MARKER IN IRAQI RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS PATIENTS

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease with an unknown etiology that affects 0.5–1% of people worldwide. It is characterized by hyperplasia, an overgrowth of synoviocytes, and chronic inflammation of the synovial joints. During the inflammatory phase of arthritis, many pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators are secreted by infiltrating immune and resident joint cells, which are responsible for cartilage degradation and excessive bone remodelling. Amongst them, a β-galactoside-binding lectin, galectin-3 (Gal-3), has been reported to be highly expressed and secreted by inflamed synovium of rheumatoid arthritis. The study findings show that serum gal-3 level in patients has a high discriminating power in the diagnosis of RA patients with high sensitivity (86.70) and specificity (85.30). In addition, it has a significant correlation with Anti CCP and PLT with P values 0.017 and <0.001 respectively. However, there is no correlation with the DAS28 (CRP) level with a P value of 0.06. In conclusion, Gal-3 serum levels have a potential role as diagnostic markers in patients with RA.Objective: The present study aims to assess the level of serum galectin-3 in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients as a potential serologic marker and to study their association with some disease parameters (DAS28, Anti CCP, PLT) in Aldewaniya Province.