• Yang Zhang, Chao Ning, Huijie Zhou, Yingjie Yan, Fulai Liu, and Yayun Huang.
• Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Engineering University, Handan, China.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2021 May 1; 190 (2): 631-638.

BackgroundThis study was to investigate the value of 10 serum inflammatory cytokines for predicting clinical response to celecoxib in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients.MethodsTotally, 103 active AS patients who underwent celecoxib treatment for 12 weeks were enrolled. Then, pre-treatment serum TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17A, IL-21, IL-23, IL-32, ICAM-1, and VEGF were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Besides, the ASAS 20 response was assessed at week 2 (W2), week 6 (W6), and week 12 (W12). Based on the ASAS 20 response at W12, patients were divided into responders and non-responders.ResultsAfter celecoxib treatment, 53 (51.3%), 58 (56.3%), and 60 (58.3%) patients achieved ASAS 20 response at W2, W6, and W12, respectively. Furthermore, IL-1β (P = 0.019), IL-6 (P = 0.004), and IL-17A (P = 0.007) levels were higher, while TNF-α (P = 0.086), IL-8 (P = 0.143), IL-21 (P = 0.687), IL-23 (P = 0.329), IL-32 (P = 0.216), ICAM-1 (P = 0.119), and VEGF (P = 0.732) levels were similar in responders compared with non-responders. Subsequent multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that among these inflammatory cytokines, only IL-6 (P = 0.019) independently predicted higher ASAS 20 response to celecoxib at W12, and it had a fair value for predicting ASAS 20 response to celecoxib at W12 (area under the curve: 0.666, 95% confidence interval: 0.561-0.771) by receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis.ConclusionSerum IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-17A serve as indicators for predicting clinical response to celecoxib in AS patients, which may assist with the optimization of personalized treatment.

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