Evaluation of atherogenic laboratory markers in Behcet's disease patients with vascular involvement

Introduction: Behcet's disease is a chronic inflammatory vasculitis presenting with immunological and endothelial changes. The aim of the present study is to evaluate blood levels of diagnostic markers which can be used in Behcet's patients with vascular involvement. Material and methods: Fifty Behcet's patients (22 with vascular involvement) and 30 healthy controls were included in the study. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1), apolipoprotein B (apoB), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride, total cholesterol, Lp-plA-2, homocysteine and ischemia modified albumin (IMA) levels were analyzed. Statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS program version 11.0. p < 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Results: hsCRP, TNF-alpha, homocysteine, IMA, apoA1, apoB, HDL, Lp-pla2 and ESR levels in patient and control groups were significantly different (p < 0.001, p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.005, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p = 0.003 respectively). In Behcet's patients with vascular involvement, homocysteine, TNF-alpha and Lp-pla2 levels were significantly higher than in Behcet's patients without vascular involvement (p = 0.035, p = 0.010 and p < 0.001 respectively). Conclusions: Increased levels of inflammatory and atherogenic markers in Behcet's patients are an expected outcome due to the inflammatory nature of the disease. Especially, elevated levels of homocysteine, TNF-alpha and Lppla2 make them candidate diagnostic tools to be helpful in clinical evaluation of Behcet's disease patients with vascular involvement.