A2A and A3 adenosine receptor expression in rheumatoid arthritis: upregulation, inverse correlation with disease activity score and suppression of inflammatory cytokine and metalloproteinase release

Table 1 Clinical features and pharmacological treatments in RA patients

	Control subjects (n= 90)	ERA patients (n= 32)	RA patients (n= 63)
Clinical parameters
N° of women/N° of men	53/37	28/4	55/8
Age, mean ± SEM years	55.2 ± 6.3	59.2 ± 2.5	62.7 ± 1.3
Duration of RA (mean ± SEM months)	-	5.1 ± 0.6	136.7 ± 15.2
Rheumatoid factor positive, RF, N°(%)	-	15 (46.9%)	42 (66.7%)
Anti-CCP antibody positive, N°(%)	-	14 (43.8%)	43 (68.3%)
DAS28 (mean ± SEM)	-	4.85 ± 0.25	4.92 ± 0.18
DAS (mean ± SEM)	-	3.44 ± 0.19	3.47 ± 0.14
HAQ (mean ± SEM)	-	1.21 ± 0.10	1.32 ± 0.12
Pharmacological treatments		n (%)	n (%)
NSAIDs	-	7 (21.9%)	5 (7.9%)
GC	-	19 (59.4%)	27 (42.9%)
GC + DMARDs	-	6 (18.8%)	31 (49.2%)
CyA	-	1 (3.1%)	0
HCL	-	2 (6.3%)	2 (3.2%)
MTX	-	3 (9.4%)	19 (30.2%)
LFN	-	0	10 (15.9%)

Anti-CCP, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide; CyA, Cyclosporin A; DAS, Disease Activity Score; DMARDs, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; ERA, early rheumatoid arthritis; GC, glucocorticoids low dose, alone; HAQ, healthy assessment questionnaire; HCL, hydroxichloroquine. LFN, leflunomide; MTX, methotrexate; NSAIDs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; RA, rheumatoid arthritis

ISSN: 1478-6362