Background/Purpose:

New biomarkers for monitoring Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) disease activity and prognosis of progression are urgently needed to individually optimize drug therapy and prevent joint destruction. Serum Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3) has been proposed to be such a marker. Thus we set out to correlate MMP-3 serum levels in Rheumatoid Arthritis patients with their individual disease activity.

Methods:

64 sera from adult patients (44 female, 20 male) with established RA and 97 control sera from adult healthy donors (48 female, 49 male) were analyzed using the AESKULISA DF MMP-3 kit. The 64 RA patients were classified as “Active” or “Inactive” according to their individual disease activity based on clinical data. Both RA groups were correlated to their individual MMP-3 serum concentrations (termed as “elevated” and “non-elevated” MMP-3 levels). The normal range of MMP-3 concentration in serum was determined by calculating the 95^th percentile of the measured MMP-3 concentrations for each gender.

Results:

Of the 64 RA patients, 35 were classified as “Active” and 29 as “Inactive” based on their individual disease activity. Normal MMP-3 serum concentrations were determined as: up to 60 ng/ml and up to 120 ng/ml for females and males, respectively. 89% (31/35) of “Active” patients had elevated and only 11% (4/35) had normal or borderline MMP-3 levels. 90% (26/29) of “Inactive” patients had normal and only 10% (3/29) had elevated MMP-3 levels.

Conclusion:

Serum concentration of MMP-3 exhibits a high correlation with RA disease activity.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/matrix-metalloproteinase-3-a-biomarker-of-disease-activity-in-rheumatoid-arthritis/