Serum Zinc and Copper Levels in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis, a chronic multi-system disease, causes many systemic manifestations, the most characteristic of which is the symmetrical involvement of peripheral articulations by inflammatory synovitis.
There is also a consideration that cellular immunity has some role in the genesis of the disease. Indeed, RA has been described as "T-Iymphocyte- macrophage immunoregulation disorder".
There is also a considerable amount of evidence indicating that Cu and Zn may contribute in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. Some earlier studies indicated that metabolism of Cu and Zn is substantially altered in patients with RA, suggesting a potential role for Cu and Zn in the development of the disease.
In the present study we observed significantly higher serum Cu levels in patients with RA compared with those in normal control subjects (P<0.0001). Cu levels in active patients were somewhat higher compared to on active RA patients (P<0.005).
On the contrary the results for serum Zn levels patients with active RA had lower serum Zn levels when compared with normal control subjects (P<0.001). This difference was also statistically important between active and non-active patients (P<0.05).