The aim of this observational, prospective, pilot study was to investigate whether salivary concentrations of CRP and IL-6 correlate with those in serum and with the clinical course of a rheumatic disease.
In psoriatic arthritis, serum IL-6 levels at the endpoint tended to be lower in patients who achieved DAS28-CRP <2.3 (European League Against Rheumatism remission criteria) than in patients who did not.
The polymorphism of the IL-6 gene promoter at position -174, which appears to influence the production of this cytokine, has been associated with susceptibility to some rheumatic diseases.