Detection of Toxoplasma Antibodies and TNF-α in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Methotrexate

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence rate of
toxoplasmosis among 294 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients treated with
methotrexate (MTX), 50 RA patients without treatment and 50 samples as
healthy control. Blood samples were collected and the presence of T.gondii
IgG and IgM antibodies was determined by using Enzyme linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was
also estimated in serum of all subjects by using ELISA method too. The
seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis IgM and IgG in RA+MTX was
60(20.408%), and 98(33.33%), in RA patients 4(8%), and 18(36%) while,
it was 2(24%), 6(12%) in healthy group. Tumor necrosis factor alpha
(TNF-α) was also estimated in serum of all subjects by using ELISA
method too. The mean levels of TNF-α in seropositive anti-Toxoplasma
IgM and IgG of RA+MTX patients were 3.781 pg/ml ± 0.571) and (36.98
pg/ml ± 0.58), in RA patients (25.404 pg/ml ± 1.748) and (40.12 pg/ml ±
1.7) while, they were (5.04 pg/ml ± 0.643) and (10.7 pg/ml ± 1.7) in
healthy group. The results showed significant difference (P<0.05) was
found between treated and untreated patients.