AB0274 The Interdependence between Clinical Features of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Thyroid Gland Function, and The Anti-Hormonal Antibodies

BackgroundAccording to the common notions, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an immunopathological condition with complex autoimmune response, directed presumably to synovial tissue. Besides that, there are some organ involvements in RA, that can strongly affect the extent of the autoimmune reactions. One of this organs is thyroid gland, because changes of its function, either increase or decrease, modulate activity of immune cells and inflammation level on the whole. Production of antibodies, directed to T3 and T4, is a candidate mechanism of the thyroid involvement.ObjectivesThe objectives of our study are detection of different thyroid conditions in RA including determination of lesion type and function assessment, as well as searching for interdependence between the clinical features of RA, type of thyroid involvement, and the level of the anti-hormonal antibodies.MethodsThe research was carried out in agreement with the principles of the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (1997). Approval for the investigation was got from the Regional Medical Ethics Committee. We enrolled adult patients with RA, verified using ACR/EULAR criteria (2010). RA activity was determined by means of DAS28 index. Thyroid involvement was detected by clinical, ultrasound, and laboratory assessment, including TSH, free T3, free T4, and anti-TPO. Anti-T3 and anti-T4 antibodies were measured using ELISA and calculated in terms of optical density units (ODU). The positive cutoff values, 0.098 ODU for anti-T3 and 0.093 ODU for anti-T4, have been found using healthy controls (n=39). Results were expressed as means±standard errors, the differences were considered significant at p