{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T15:35:00Z","timestamp":1781278500137,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,6]],"date-time":"2020-04-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1586131200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating, chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease associated with cachexia. The substitutive therapy of gut hormone ghrelin has been pointed at as a potential countermeasure for the management of metabolic and inflammatory complications in RA. The recent discovery of liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2 (LEAP2) as an endogenous inverse agonist\/antagonist of the ghrelin receptor makes feasible the development of a more rational pharmacological approach. This work aimed to assess the serum LEAP2 levels, in a cohort of RA patients, in comparison with healthy individuals and determine its correlation with inflammatory parameters. LEAP2 levels were determined by a commercial ELISA kit, plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were evaluated using immunoturbidimetry, and serum levels of inflammatory mediators, namely IL-6, IL-8, IL-1\u03b2, MIP1\u03b1, MCP1, and LCN2, were measured by XMap multiplex assay. LEAP2 serum levels were significantly increased in RA patients (n = 101) compared with control subjects (n = 26). Furthermore, the LEAP2 levels significantly correlated with CRP and inflammatory cytokines, but not with BMI. These data reveal LEAP2 as a new potential RA biomarker and indicated the pharmacological control of LEAP2 levels as a novel approach for the treatment of diseases with alterations on the ghrelin levels, such as rheumatoid cachexia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu12041006","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,7]],"date-time":"2020-04-07T03:58:39Z","timestamp":1586231919000},"page":"1006","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["Levels of the Novel Endogenous Antagonist of Ghrelin Receptor, Liver-Enriched Antimicrobial Peptide-2, in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Vera","family":"Francisco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"SERGAS (Servizo Galego de Saude) and IDIS (Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria de Santiago), the NEIRID Lab (Neuroendocrine Interactions in Rheumatology and Inflammatory Diseases), Research Laboratory 9, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7813-6520","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sulay","family":"Tovar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n en Medicina Molecular (CIMUS), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias de Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain and CIBER Fisiopatolog\u00eda, de la Obesidad y Nutrici\u00f3n (CIBERobn), Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Javier","family":"Conde","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SERGAS (Servizo Galego de Saude) and IDIS (Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria de Santiago), the NEIRID Lab (Neuroendocrine Interactions in Rheumatology and Inflammatory Diseases), Research Laboratory 9, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jes\u00fas","family":"Pino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SERGAS (Servizo Galego de Saude) and IDIS (Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria de Santiago), the NEIRID Lab (Neuroendocrine Interactions in Rheumatology and Inflammatory Diseases), Research Laboratory 9, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Mera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SERGAS, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, Division of Rheumatology, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francisca","family":"Lago","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Group, SERGAS (Servizo Galego de Saude) and IDIS (Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria de Santiago), Research Laboratory 7, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7924-7406","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miguel Angel","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Gay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Epidemiology, Genetics and Atherosclerosis Research Group on Systemic Inflammatory Diseases, Universidad de Cantabria and IDIVAL, Hospital Universitario Marqu\u00e9s de Valdecilla, 39008 Santander, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carlos","family":"Dieguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Investigaci\u00f3n en Medicina Molecular (CIMUS), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela and Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias de Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain and CIBER Fisiopatolog\u00eda, de la Obesidad y Nutrici\u00f3n (CIBERobn), Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7154-1328","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oreste","family":"Gualillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SERGAS (Servizo Galego de Saude) and IDIS (Instituto de Investigaci\u00f3n Sanitaria de Santiago), the NEIRID Lab (Neuroendocrine Interactions in Rheumatology and Inflammatory Diseases), Research Laboratory 9, Santiago University Clinical Hospital, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18001","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2018.1","article-title":"Rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"4","author":"Smolen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. 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