MANAGING THE IMMUNE MARKERS TO RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS WITH CHITOSAN-CAPPED GOLD NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

            Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were functionalized by coating with chitosan (CS) and utilized to manage the immune response of 84 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 20 healthy volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 80 years. The synthesized gold nanoparticles, before and after functionalization, were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier-transforms spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, zeta potential, and FE-SEM. The results of the FE-SEM analysis revealed that the AuNPs, both before and after functionalization, with chitosan, were spherical in shape, while they had size range of 20–50 and 40- 117 nm, respectively. Zeta potential analysis revealed that the NPs had a negative (-34 mV) and positive surface charge (+64 mV) before and after functionalization, respectively. The levels of 10 immune markers in the sera of RA patients (IgA, IgE, IgG, RF, ANA, anti-dsDNA, C3, C4, IL-6, and IL-33) were tested by ELISA kits to study the in vitro effects of treatment with functionalized and non-functionalized AuNPs on their immune response. The levels of all markers were decreased significantly in RA patients after exposure to AuNPs or AuNPs-CS. However, the levels of IgA, IgE, IgG, ANA, anti-dsDNA, C3, C4, and IL-6 showed significantly higher reduction in the presence of AuNPs as compared to AuNPs-CS, whereas the opposite was observed for the levels of RF and IL-33.

Keyword: Nanotechnology, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), chitosan (CS), Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ELISA.