TY - JOUR T1 - Calprotectin serum level is an independent marker for radiographic spinal progression in axial spondyloarthritis JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - 1746 LP - 1748 DO - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-205506 VL - 73 IS - 9 AU - Maureen C Turina AU - Joachim Sieper AU - Nataliya Yeremenko AU - Kristina Conrad AU - Hildrun Haibel AU - Martin Rudwaleit AU - Dominique Baeten AU - Denis Poddubnyy Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/73/9/1746.abstract N2 - In previous works, we demonstrated that markers of systemic inflammation (elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)) are independently associated with radiographic spinal progression over 2 years in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in the German spondyloarthritis inception cohort (GESPIC).1 We also found previously that calprotectin, which is secreted during monocyte infiltration into inflamed tissues, and thus, directly reflects a potentially important pathophysiological mechanism in SpA,2 ,3 and which was found to be associated with structural joint damage in psoriatic arthritis4 and in rheumatoid arthritis,5 is clearly elevated in SpA as compared to healthy controls, and decreases rapidly and consistently upon effective treatment,2 although in another work, no differences in serum calprotectin between ankylosing spondylitis patients and healthy controls could be found.6 We aimed here to assess whether serum calprotectin levels are predictive for progression of structural damage in the spine in axSpA. Seventy-six patients (mean age 38.0±11.5 years, mean symptom duration 4.6±2.8 years, 66% males, 82% HLA-B27-positives) with definite axSpA (n=63 fulfilling the modified New York criteria for ankylosing spondylitis and n=13 patients with axSpA not fulfilling the radiographic part … ER -