Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Feb 22;47(3):142.
doi: 10.3390/cimb47030142.

Biological Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs Decrease Uric Acid Levels in the Sera of Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis

Dijana Perković  1   2 , Marin Petrić  1 , Maja Maleš  2 , Ivana Erceg Maleš  1 , Mislav Radić  1   2
Affiliations

Biological Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs Decrease Uric Acid Levels in the Sera of Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis

Dijana Perković et al. Curr Issues Mol Biol. .

Abstract

Objectives: There are many explanations for increased levels of serum uric acid (SUA) in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but correlation with different treatment options in PsA is not well elucidated. Our aim was to determine the effects of biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) on SUA levels in patients with PsA.

Materials and methods: We analyzed the data of PsA patients treated with different bDMARDs from January 2007 to June 2021. Patients treated with interleukin-17 (IL-17) inhibitors (secukinumab and ixekizumab) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) inhibitors (golimumab, infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab pegol, and etanercept) were included.

Results: A total of 87 patients were included. The SUA levels decreased in 60 (69%) patients after a 3-6-month-long follow-up, and in 25 (28.7%), we noticed an increase. The average decrease in SUA levels was 9.4 ± 49.5 µmol/L (p = 0.039); for TNFα patients, it was 7.3 ± 59.8 µmol/L (p = 0.386), and for IL-17 patients, it was 12.6 ± 28.4 µmol/L (p = 0.013). The levels of SUA decreased in 81.8% of patients treated with infliximab, as well as in 76% of those treated with secukinumab and in 72.7% of those treated with etanercept. The largest average decrease in SUA levels was recorded in the group treated with golimumab (23 µmol/L).

Conclusions: A significant decrease in SUA levels was noticed, especially in patients treated with IL-17 inhibitors. Further studies should identify which bDMARD is the most potent in the lowering of SUA levels. bDMARDs were efficient in PsA disease activity.

Keywords: biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; interleukin-17; psoriatic arthritis; tumor necrosis factor alpha; uric acid.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of included patients’ data. bDMARD—biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, PsA—psoriatic arthritis, SUA—serum uric acid.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of bDMARDs on SUA levels. bDMARD—biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, IL-17—interleukin-17, SUA—serum uric acid, TNFα—tumor necrosis factor α.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average changes in serum uric acid (SUA) levels during the follow-up period considering therapies with different biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Part (A) presents percentages of average change in SUA levels. Part (B) presents medians, interquartile ranges, quartiles, minimums, and maximums of SUA levels changes. Certolizumab patients were not included due to the small sample size (n = 2). A t-test for two independent groups was used.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Perez-Chada L.M., Merola J.F. Comorbidities associated with psoriatic arthritis: Review and update. Clin. Immunol. 2020;214:108397. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2020.108397. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ogdie A., Schwartzman S., Husni M.E. Recognizing and managing comorbidities in psoriatic arthritis. Curr. Opin. Rheumatol. 2015;27:118–126. doi: 10.1097/BOR.0000000000000152. - DOI - PubMed
    1. AlJohani R., Polachek A., Yang Y.J., Chandran V., Gladman D.D. Characteristic and Outcome of Psoriatic Arthritis Patients with Hyperuricemia. J. Rheumatol. 2018;45:213–217. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.170384. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bruce I.N., Schentag C.T., Gladman D.D. Hyperuricemia in psoriatic arthritis: Prevalence and associated features. J. Clin. Rheumatol. 2000;6:6–9. doi: 10.1097/00124743-200002000-00001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Liu Y., Zhao Q., Yin Y., McNutt M.A., Zhang T., Cao Y. Serum levels of IL-17 are elevated in patients with acute gouty arthritis. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 2018;497:897–902. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.02.166. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources