AB0020 COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTION OF CYTOKINES AND MATRIX METALLOPROTEINASES IN A GROUP OF PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND OSTEOARTHROSIS UNDER A STRICT FOLLOW-UP COMPARED WITH COVID-19 PATIENTS

Abstract

Background: COVID-19, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthrosis (OA) are diseases characterized by the secretion of cytokines related to the stimulation of the infammatory response. Objectives: To identify the differences in the cytokine and matrix metalloprotein-ases (MMP) profile within one acute infectious disease and two chronic infam-matory rheumatic diseases. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study. RA patients under a strict follow-up program (T2T evaluated every two months), OA patients without strict clinical follow-up, evaluated once or twice a year, and Severe (mortality) COVID-19 patients were included. Eleven proteins (cytokines, MMPs and its tissue inhibitors) were quantifed through Luminex multiplex assay in serum samples. Univar-iate and bivariate analyzes were performed. Approval of Ethics Committee and informed consent were obtained. Results: A total of 108 patients with RA and OA were compared with 20 severe COVID-19 patients. There were no signifcant differences through the method of Kruskall-Wallis, between RA and OA patients. IL1-B and MMP-2 were signif-cantly lower in COVID-19 patients. Levels of IL-10, IL-1RA, IL-6, MMP-1, MMP-9, and TIMP-1 were signifcantly higher in COVID-19 patients. There were no differences in TNF-A, TIMP-2 and INF-G. (Table 1) Conclusion: Compared with RA and OA patients, severe COVID-19 patients have a great impact on the cytokines and MMPs addressed in this study, proving that COVID-19 patients suffer from a cytokine storm [1] when severely infected.