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  • Antitumour necrosis factor-α therapy modulates angiopoietin-2 serum levels in non-diabetic ankylosing spondylitis patients

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Antitumour necrosis factor-α therapy modulates angiopoietin-2 serum levels in non-diabetic ankylosing spondylitis patients
  1. Fernanda Genre1,
  2. José A Miranda-Filloy2,
  3. Raquel López-Mejias1,
  4. Beatriz Carnero-López3,
  5. Rodrigo Ochoa1,
  6. Javier Rueda1,
  7. Carlos González-Juanatey4,
  8. Ricardo Blanco1,
  9. Javier Llorca5,
  10. Miguel A González-Gay1
  1. 1 Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, IFIMAV, Santander, Spain
  2. 2 Rheumatology Division, Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo, Spain
  3. 3 Oncology Division, Hospital Del Bierzo, Ponferrada, León
  4. 4 Cardiology Division, Hospital Xeral-Calde, Lugo, Spain
  5. 5 Department of Epidemiology and Computational Biology, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria, IFIMAV, and CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Santander, Spain
  1. Correspondence to Dr Miguel A González-Gay, Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Rheumatology Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, IFIMAV, Avenida de Valdecilla, s/n, Santander 39008, Spain; miguelaggay{at}hotmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2012-203169

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    Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has been associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) mortality1 ,2 and accelerated atherosclerosis.3 Traditional CV risk factors and inflammation contribute to increased CV morbidity in AS.2 Antitumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF)-α therapy has been found to be effective in patients with AS and other spondyloarthropathies.4 We have observed that non-diabetic AS patients treated with infliximab experienced a dramatic reduction in serum insulin levels and improvement of insulin sensitivity after administration of this drug.5 It is plausible to think that TNF-α blockade may account for some other biological changes that slow the progression of atherosclerosis in AS. Therefore, it may be important to establish potential changes in biomarkers of endothelial cell activation following the administration of anti-TNF-α drugs in AS patients.

    Angiopoietin-2 (Angpt-2) is a marker of endothelial cell activation, involved in angiogenesis, which makes the endothelium responsive to inflammatory cytokines.6 Angpt-2 levels have been found increased in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with CV disease (CVD) when compared with those without CVD.6 However, to our knowledge, there are no studies assessing Angpt-2 …

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    Footnotes

    • FG and JAM-F contributed equally. MAG-G and JL shared senior authorship in this study.

    • Contributors FG performed the study, contributed to the elaboration of the protocol of study, helped in the interpretation of data and in the elaboration of the manuscript. JAM-F recruited patients for the study, contributed to the elaboration of the protocol of study, helped in the interpretation of data and the elaboration of the manuscript. RL-M, BC-L, RO, JR, CG-J and RB helped in the interpretation of data and contributed to the elaboration of the manuscript. JL contributed to the elaboration of the protocol of study, helped in the interpretation of data and the elaboration of the manuscript and performed the statistical analysis. MAG-G recruited patients for the study, contributed to the elaboration of the protocol of study, helped in the interpretation of data and was responsible of the final drafting and elaboration of the manuscript.

    • Funding This study was supported by grants from ‘Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias’ PI06/0024, PS09/00748 and PI12/00060 (Spain). This work was also partially supported by RETICS Program, RD08/0075 and RD12/0009/0013 (RIER) from ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’ (ISCIII) (Spain).

    • Competing interests None.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval Local institutional committee.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.