The Role of Trace Elements In Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease with unknown origin. Several etiologic factors have been attributed to the pathogenesis of RA, which is substantially derived by inflammatory factor. Trace elements (TE) including selenium, zinc and copper are components of several fundamental enzymes in the oxidative pathways which play crucial role in the prevention of cellular oxidative stress induced by superoxides and free radicals. The current study aimed to assess the relationship between serum values of the trace elements and RA disease activity. On this purpose, searching of available electronic databanks by relative keywords and without any time limitation performed. The serum levels of selenium, zinc, and zinc/copper ratio in patients with RA were lower than those values in age- and sex-matched healthy control individuals; but zinc had a positive correlation with serum levels of albumin and negative relation with disease duration. Furthermore, copper was positively correlated to disease activity and there was no association between serum level of copper and age or gender. There was a relationship between lower values of selenium and number of affected joints in RA. It can be concluded that there is a relationship between serum values of trace elements and RA development and disease activity.