UMIB - Unidade Multidisciplinar de Investigação Biomédica, ICBAS - Instituto de Ciência Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Hospital da Luz Arrábida, Porto, Portugal.
Int J Rheum Dis. 2022 Jun;25(6):669-677. doi: 10.1111/1756-185X.14323. Epub 2022 Apr 15.
Differences in proteomic profiles between men and women may provide insights into the biological pathways that contribute to known sex differences in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Studies focusing on sex differences in circulating proteins in RA patients are scarce. Our objective was to investigate the sex differences in circulating proteins of RA patients.
Cohort study enrolling 399 RA patients. Ninety-four circulating protein-biomarkers (92CVDIIOlink + troponin-T + C-reactive protein) were measured. Clinical, demographic, and echocardiographic characteristics were compared between men and women. Sex differences in biomarker expression were assessed using regression modeling.
In all, 306 (76.7%) patients were women. Compared with men, women had less visceral fat, smoked less, had diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease less frequently, and expressed more fatigue, anxiety, and depression. The association with cardiovascular outcomes did not differ between sexes. After adjusting for potential confounders, women expressed higher levels of circulating proteins related to adipokine signaling and vascular function (eg, leptin and vascular endothelial growth factor), whereas men expressed higher levels of circulating proteins related to extracellular matrix organization and inflammation (eg, matrix metalloproteinase-2 and C-reactive protein). These results were not found in patients without RA.
Sex differences in circulating proteins reflect distinct pathways implicated in the pathogenesis of RA, including inflammation, adiposity, angiogenesis, and extracellular matrix organization. These findings may help further investigations into factors underlying sex-based differences and allow future studies focused on sex-specific personalized treatment approaches in RA.
gov ID: NCT03960515.
男性和女性之间蛋白质组特征的差异可能为导致类风湿关节炎（RA）中已知性别差异的生物学途径提供深入了解。关注 RA 患者循环蛋白性别差异的研究很少。我们的目的是研究 RA 患者循环蛋白的性别差异。
这项队列研究纳入了 399 名 RA 患者。共检测了 94 种循环蛋白生物标志物（92CVDIIOlink + 肌钙蛋白 T + C 反应蛋白）。比较了男性和女性之间的临床、人口统计学和超声心动图特征。使用回归模型评估生物标志物表达的性别差异。
共有 306 名（76.7%）患者为女性。与男性相比，女性内脏脂肪较少，吸烟较少，糖尿病和慢性阻塞性肺疾病较少，疲劳、焦虑和抑郁更为常见。与心血管结局的相关性在性别之间没有差异。在调整了潜在混杂因素后，女性表达的与脂肪因子信号和血管功能相关的循环蛋白水平较高（例如，瘦素和血管内皮生长因子），而男性表达的与细胞外基质组织和炎症相关的循环蛋白水平较高（例如，基质金属蛋白酶-2 和 C 反应蛋白）。这些结果在没有 RA 的患者中没有发现。
循环蛋白的性别差异反映了 RA 发病机制中涉及的不同途径，包括炎症、肥胖、血管生成和细胞外基质组织。这些发现可能有助于进一步研究性别差异背后的因素，并允许未来的研究集中在 RA 中基于性别的个体化治疗方法上。
gov ID：NCT03960515。
