Oxidative Stress in Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases

Summary

Rheumatic diseases constitute a group of non-communicable diseases characterized by chronic inflammation. The most common autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) are rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, myositis, Sjogren's syndrome and systemic scleroderma. These autoimmune disorders lead to joint destruction and adversely influence the human body systemically. One of their characteristics is comorbidity, since patients usually suffer also from other pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases and obesity. In addition, their treatment requires a combination of both biological and conventional pharmaceutical interventions as well as other parameters such as physical activity programs, nutrition, and the use of smart electronic devices. Therefore, the ARDs burden health systems worldwide. Apart from the physiological manifestations of ARDs, specific changes are observed at the cellular and molecular level. A common biochemical/molecular symptom of these diseases is oxidative stress. This condition leads to the disturbance of blood and tissue redox status due to the excessive production of free radicals. Given that free radicals are highly reactive moieties with strong oxidative capacity against biomolecules (i.e., proteins, lipids, DNA), they compromise the efficacy of the intrinsic antioxidant mechanisms and, finally, induce the disruption of redox homeostasis. However, there is no sufficient data linking the levels of redox status of patients with the progression of ARDs over time. Indeed, the onset and symptoms of ARDs are intertwined with the disruption of the patient redox homeostasis and the induction of oxidative stress. Concurrently, the absence of a completely effective pharmaceutical treatment emerges the need for the adoption of novel biomarkers for monitoring the severity of the symptoms and the evolution of ARDs in general. To that end, this study aims at first to investigate the blood redox status of patients with ARDs. Thus, specific redox biomarkers will be evaluated in the blood of patients in three time points (i.e., at Days 1, 180 and 360), and they will be associated with the clinical manifestations of their diseases. The ultimate goal is to clarify whether these biomarkers could putatively exert clinical significance, namely whether they could constitute an additional tool for the monitoring of the progression of these diseases in clinical practice.

Conditions

• Inflammatory Joint Diseases
• Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)
• Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA)
• Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• George Metsios, Professor, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Thessaly, Greece

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• General University Hospital of Larissa

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Dimitrios P. Bogdanos, Professor, Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Larissa University Hospital

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Thessaly

  lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-10-06

Primary Completion

2026-04-30

Completion

2026-10-31

Countries

• Greece

Study Locations