Vol.21 No.3

Original Article

Reduction in serum levels of substance P in patients with rheumatoid arthritis by etanercept, a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor

Authors

Tomoki Origuchi1,2 , Naoki Iwamoto2 , Shin-ya Kawashiri2 , Keita Fujikawa2 , Toshiyuki Aramaki2 , Mami Tamai2 , Kazuhiko Arima2 , Hideki Nakamura2 , Satoshi Yamasaki2 , Hiroaki Ida2 , Atsushi Kawakami2 , Yukitaka Ueki3, Naoki Matsuoka4, Munetoshi Nakashima5, Akinari Mizokami6, Yojiro Kawabe7, Masanobu Mine8, Takaaki Fukuda9, Katsumi Eguchi10

  • Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8520, Japan
  • Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan
  • Sasebo Central Hospital, 15 Yamato-cho, Sasebo 857-1195, Japan
  • Nagasaki Medical Hospital of Rheumatology, 1-21 Aburaya-machi, Nagasaki 850-0832, Japan
  • Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital, 3-15 Mori-machi, Nagasaki 852-8511, Japan
  • Nagasaki Municipal Hospital, 6-39 Shinchi-machi, Nagasaki 850-8555, Japan
  • Ureshino National Hospital, 2436 Geshuku-hei, Ureshino 843-0393, Japan
  • Suga Orthopedic Hospital, 332 Ono-machi, Isahaya 854-0034, Japan
  • Kurume University Medical Center, 155-1 Kokubu-cho, Kurume 839-0863, Japan
  • Sasebo Municipal Hospital, 9-3 Hirase-machi, Sasebo 857-8511, Japan
Received:

8 June 2010

Accepted:

1 November 2010

Published online:

29 December 2010

Full Text

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Abstract

We determined the effects of etanercept on the serum concentrations of neuropeptides in RA patients. In a total of 11 patients who had been injected with etanercept, the serum levels of substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) were analyzed. Average levels of serum substance P were significantly reduced from 1.53 to 0.62 ng/ml after the injection of etanercept. In the CGRP and GRP analyses, these average levels dropped from 1.57 and 0.51 ng/ml to 0.44 and 0.04 ng/ml, respectively. Etanercept appears to decrease substance P levels with an improvement in disease activities.

Key words

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) - Etanercept - Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) - Rheumatoid arthritis - Substance P