Correlation of serum hypoxia-inducible factor-1αlevel with interstitial lung disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

PENG Qiong; MO Han-you; YANG Min; ZHU Fang-xiao; XU Jia; LI Li-mei; SHI Yu-hong

Abstract：Objective To investigate the correlation of serum hypoxia inducible factors -1α( HIF-1α) level with interstitial lung disease ( ILD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) .Methods Two hundred and seventy -two RA patients were enrolled in the study , of whom 68 cases had associated ILD ( RA-ILD group ) and 204 cases did not (RA group).Eighty subjects scheduled for healthy physical examination and with age and sex matched were enrolled as control ( normal control group ) .Venous blood of the 3 groups was collected and concentrations of serum HIF -1α, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and transforming growth factor -β1(TGF-β1) were measured by ELISA.Lung function and related laboratory indicators in patients with RA were detected .Results HIF-1αconcentrations of the RA-ILD and RA groups were significantly higher than that of the normal control group ( P<0.01 ) .Concentrations of HIF -1α, CTGF and TGF-β1 of the RA-ILD group were significantly higher than those of the RA group (P<0.01).Vital capacity, forced vital capacity and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity ( DLCO) of the RA-ILD group were significantly lower than those of the RA group (P<0.05, P<0.01).Serum level of HIF-1αin RA patients was positively correlated with that of rheumatoid factor ( r =0.80, P <0.01) and anti -cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody ( r =0.59, P<0.01), and was negatively correlated with DLCO (r=-0.76, P<0.01).Conclusion HIF-1αparticipates in the pathogenesis of RA , and may be involved in the pathogenesis of RA associated ILD .