Aim: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease and its etiology hasnt been fully elucidated. However, excessive amounts of reactive oxygen derivatives have been detected in the synovial fluids of patients with RA. Therefore, systemic inflammation and oxidative stress are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA. Our aim in this study is to investigate the ischemia modified albumin (IMA), methylglyoxal (MG) levels and serum prolidase activity (SPA) in RA.

Material and Methods: The study were included 50 RA patients and 50 healthy volunteers. IMA levels and SPA were measured by spectrophotometric method (Perkin Elmer Lambda 25 UV/Vis, US), and MG levels were measured by chromatographic method (Thermo Ultimate 3000 Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography). Various hematological and biochemical parameters were determined by Beckman Coulter LH 780 and AU 5800 (Beckman Coulter, Brea, USA) autoanalyzers, respectively. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured by Alifax (Padova, Italy) and IMMAGE 800 (Beckman Coulter, Brea, USA), respectively.

Results: Serum IMA, MG levels and SPA were found to be significantly higher in the RA group compared to the control group, while MG and IMA levels of patients with low disease activity (DAS 28 ≤ 3.2) were found to be statistically significantly lower than patients with moderate disease activity (DAS-28: 3.2- 5.1).

Conclusion: This study shows that oxidative stress and inflammation play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA, and that there is a relationship between serum IMA and MG levels with disease activity and duration.