ADIPOKINES AS BIOMARKERS OF RHEUMATIC DISEASES

Rheumatic diseases constitute a group of pathologies with different etiologies and not well-understood pathophysiology. There are several diagnostic criteria for identifying and classifying rheumatic disease patients. However, the identification of the early stages of the disease is still hard to detect. In recent years, many scientific efforts have attempted to identify novel biomarkers that improve rheumatic disease diagnosis, leading to an improvement in the treatment of the illness. Certain biochemical markers were identified and appear to be related with the severity and progression of the different rheumatic diseases. Adipocytes synthesize and secrete a wide variety of factors called adipokines, which are involved in many different physiological processes and diseases. These adipose tissue-derived factors also appear to be involved in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. In this review, we discuss the relationship between adipokines and different rheumatic diseases, and their potential use as biomarkers of certain diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and ankylosing spondylitis.