• Barış Boral, İbrahim Tuncer, Filiz Kibar, Salih Çetiner, Suade Özlem Badak, Emrah Salman, Emrah Koç, Eren Erken, and Akgün Yaman.
• Department of Immunology, Adana Health Practice and Research Center, University of Health Sciences, Adana, Turkiye.
• Turk J Med Sci. 2023 Jan 1; 53 (5): 107510831075-1083.

Background/AimRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting mostly small joints, such as hand and foot joints symmetrically with irreversible joint destruction. In this study, the relationship between CD39 expression and the treatment response of RA patients was examined to investigate its potential as a biomarker that demonstrates treatment response.Materials And MethodsThis study included 77 RA patients and 40 healthy controls (HC). The RA patients were divided into 2 groups based on their response to RA treatment, those with a good response to methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy and those with an inadequate response based on the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism response criteria. Various immunological parameters and Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints (DAS28) were examined between the groups using the Student's t-test.ResultsThe monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cell (M-MDSC) percentage was higher in the RA patient group versus the HC group. The CD39 expression in the T lymphocytes were higher in patients that responded well to the MTX compared to those showing inadequate response. Additionally, s negative correlation was found between the DAS28 and CD39 in the T cells.ConclusionThe results showed that the improvement in treatment response to the therapy in RA patients could be because of the enhancement in the CD39/adenosine (ADO) pathway. Therefore, therapies targeting the CD39/ADO pathway in T cells may improve RA treatments.© TÜBİTAK.

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