Serum Interleukin-34 in Psoriatic arthritis patients and its correlation with disease 1 activity, and subclinical atherosclerosis

Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic multi-domains autoimmune inflammatory disorder. Patients with PsA have a significant prevalence of cardiovascular affection. Upregulated Interleukin-34 (IL-34) has been seen in many autoimmune disorders, and also in atherosclerotic plaques. The aim of this observational case–control study was to evaluate the serum levels of il-34 in PsA patients and correlate between its level and disease activity, and subclinical cardiovascular affection. Results In this study, there were 70 PsA patients and 70 healthy volunteers, 43 patients were on Methotrexate, 6 on sulfasalazine, while 40 patients were on biological therapy either monotherapy or in combination with DMARDs. There were significant differences between PsA patients and controls in ESR, high sensitivity-CRP, total lipid profile, and IL-34 levels ( p < 0.05) while there were no significant differences regarding Echo and ECG results. Also, we found that there was significant elevation in DAPSA score, hs-CRP, IL-34, and cIMT in the active patients when we compared them with inactive patients. IL-34 had significant positive correlations with DAPSA score, hs-CRP, and cIMT ( r = 0.654, 0.579, and 0.658 respectively). Conclusion Serum interleukin-34 is an important marker in PsA as its levels were elevated in PsA patients and were correlated with disease activity and subclinical cardiovascular affection.