Background: Chemerin functions as a chemoattractant for immune cells, promotes both innate and acquired immunity, and modulates the activity of immune cells through its interaction with the ChemR23 receptor.
Aim of the work: The objective of this work was to find out the relation between serum level of Chemerin and occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis Disease.
Patients and methods: Sixty patients with rheumatoid arthritis [RA] which divided to 30 early RA and 30 late RA were included and were compared with 30 normal subjects as a control group. All were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination (general and musculoskeletal examination), calculation of body mass index and disease activity by disease activity score and health associated quality of life. This followed by laboratory investigations (mainly Chemerin (ng/ml).
Results: There was a higher significant value of DAS CRP in early [5.45±1.28] than the Late Group [4.29±1.13]. In addition, there was a significant increase of HAQ in early than the late group [1.83±0.52 vs 1.15±0.33]. There was higher mean value of Chemerin [ng/ml] in early than the late group [389.21±112.79 vs 235.05±9.15, respectively], the lowest value was in the control group [169.86±27.52]. Furthermore, there was a significant positive correlation between Chemerin with ESR, CRP, DASCRP and HAQ; while there was a significant negative correlation between Chemerin with duration of disease.  The ROC curve showed that the best cutoff of Chemerin “ng/ml" was ≥218.38, with sensitivity of 100% specificity of 100% positive predictive value [PPV] of 100%, negative predictive value [NPV] of 100% with diagnostic area under the curve [AUC] of 1.00.
Conclusion: The results highlight the potential value of serum chemerin levels over established indicators ESR and CRP as an effective biomarker for differentiating between Early and Late RA as well as among those who have rheumatoid arthritis and disease-free individuals.