Vol.23 No.5

Original Article

Vitamin K2 administration is associated with decreased disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Authors

Kosuke Ebina1 , Kenrin Shi1 , Makoto Hirao2 , Shoichi Kaneshiro1 , Tokimitsu Morimoto1 , Kota Koizumi1 , Hideki Yoshikawa1 , Jun Hashimoto3

  • Department of Orthopaedics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
  • Department of Orthopaedics, National Hospital Organization Osaka Minami Medical Center, 2-1 Kidohigashi, Kawachinagano Osaka, 586-8521, Japan
  • Department of Rheumatology, National Hospital Organization Osaka Minami Medical Center, 2-1 Kidohigashi, Kawachinagano Osaka, 586-8521, Japan
Received:

31 July 2012

Accepted:

18 October 2012

Published online:

6 November 2012

Full Text

PDF　(member's only)

Abstract

Objectives Vitamin K2 (VitK2) is reported to induce not
only bone mineralization of human osteoblasts and apoptosis
of osteoclasts, but also apoptosis of rheumatoid
arthritis (RA) synovial cells, while its clinical effect on
disease activity of RA remains unknown.
Methods 158 female RA patients (mean age 62.5 years)
who had not been treated with warfarin, biologics, or teriparatide
were enrolled in this study. VitK2 (45 mg/day)
was administered in 70 patients with a serum undercarboxylated
osteocalcin level of[4.5 ng/ml or with decreased
bone mineral density in spite of the treatment with other
anti-osteoporosis medications, regardless of RA disease
activity. A longitudinal study was conducted in 52 patients
who were additionally treated with VitK2 without changing
their other medications for three months.
Results In the cross-sectional study, as compared to the
VitK2-na?¨ve group (n = 88), the VitK2-treated group
(n = 70) showed lower serum CRP (1.7 ± 0.2 vs.
0.5 ± 0.1 mg/dl; P\0.001), MMP-3 (220.4 ± 21.9 vs.
118.0 ± 14.4 ng/ml; P\0.001), and DAS28-CRP (2.9 ±
0.1 vs. 2.4 ± 0.1; P\0.05). In the longitudinal study,
patients who were additionally treated with VitK2 showed
significant decreases in serum CRP (1.1 ± 0.2 to
0.6 ± 0.2 mg/dl; P\0.001), MMP-3 (160.1 ± 25.6 to
125.0 ± 17.8 ng/ml; P\0.05), and DAS28-CRP
(3.1 ± 0.2 to 2.4 ± 0.1; P\0.001).
Conclusions VitK2 may have the potential to improve
disease activity besides osteoporosis in RA.

Key words

C-reactive protein, Disease Activity Score assessing 28 joints with CRP, Matrix metalloproteinase-3, Rheumatoid arthritis, Vitamin K2