Original article Mean platelet volume and β-thromboglobulin levels in familial mediterranean fever: Effect of colchicine use? Gul Babacan Abanonu ⁎, Alper Daskin, Mehmet Fatih Akdogan, Seyit Uyar, Refik Demirtunc Department of Internal Medicine, Haydarpasa Numune Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey abstract article info Article history: Received 6 May 2011 Received in revised form 4 April 2012 Accepted 11 April 2012 Available online 3 May 2012 Keywords: Familial Mediterranean Fever β-Thromboglobulin Mean platelet volume Colchicine Background: Many studies have shown that subclinical inflammation persisted during remission period of Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) patients but long term effects of subclinical inflammation in these patients aren't clearly known. Besides, a few of the recent studies revealed that risk of atherosclerosis had increased in FMF patients. β-Thromboglobulin (β-TG) is considered as a sensitive marker of platelet activation. In this study Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) and β-TG levels were evaluated in FMF patients. Methods: Following the Local Ethics Committee's consent, 25 FMF patients were included in the study. Twenty eight age and sex matched healthy volunteers were recruited as a control group. Lipid profile, inflammatory parameters, hemogram, β-TG, MPV were assessed. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS for Windows 16.00. Results: Group I consisted of 25 FMF cases (16 females, 9 males; mean age: 35.72 ± 12.34 years), Group II consisted of 28 cases (22 females, 6 males; mean age 31.78± 10.31 years). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of age and gender distribution, smoking status, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and MPV (p > 0.05). HDL levels were found to be statistically lower in Group I (p:0.04). Median β-TG levels was significantly higher in Group II than Group I (129.50 (range:372.00) ng/mL versus 104.00 (range:212.80) ng/mL respectively; p:0.03). Conclusion: In this study MPV and β-TG were evaluated for FMF cases and healthy controls, β-TG levels were found significantly lower among patients; we hypothesized that this difference may have resulted from the effect of colchicine use on platelet functions. © 2012 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is an autoinflammatory, autosomal recessive genetic disorder that affects groups of people around the Mediterranean Countries. It is prominently present among the Sephardi Jews, Turks, Armenians, Arabs and to a much lesser extent other ethnicities. It manifests recurrent and self-limiting attacks of fever with increased acute phase reactants, usually accompanied by sterile peritonitis, pleuritis, monoarticular or oligoarticular arthritis and/or skin lesions [1–3]. Four populations (i.e. Sephardi Jews, Turks, Armenians, Arabs) are mainly affected by the disease with high prevalance: 1:200–1:1000 [2]. The prevalence of carriers in these populations has been reported as 20–39% [4]. A study in 1998 by Ozen et al. showed the prevalence of the disease in Turkey is 2.3/10.000 when previously diagnosed patients were considered. They also reported this ratio has risen to 9.3/10.000 if previously and newly diagnosed FMF patients were considered together [5]. Many studies have shown that subclinical inflammation persisted during remission period in FMF patients [6–8]. Long term effects of subclinical inflammation in these patiens are not clearly known. In recent years the possible causative role of systemic inflammation in some rheumatic diseases on atherosclerosis development have been investigated [9–11]. Increased mortality rates were determined to be associated with early atherosclerosis development in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome and rheu- matoid arthritis [12]. A few of the recent studies revealed that risk of atherosclerosis had increased in FMF patients [13–16]. Increased mean platelet volume (MPV) is a manifestation of platelet functions and activation, and accepted as a prognostic biomarker in patients with cardiovascular disease [17,18]. To the best of our knowledge there is only one study evaluating the MPV levels in adult FMF patients [19]. In a study conducted by Coban et al. in 2008, 35 adult FMF patients and 35 healthy control individuals were evaluated. It was determined that MPV levels, which were detected to be statistically higher in patients' group than control group, were shown to have a positive correlation with delay of diagnosis and a negative correlation with duration of colchicine treatment [19]. β-thromboglobulin (β-TG) is a specific platelet protein, first described by Moore et al. [20], released from platelets during platelet activation and European Journal of Internal Medicine 23 (2012) 661–664 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Hasircibasi Caddesi Gulsen Sokak 5/12 Kadikoy, Istanbul, Turkey. Tel.: + 90 216 4142322. E-mail address: babacangul@hotmail.com (G.B. Abanonu). 0953-6205/$ – see front matter © 2012 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ejim.2012.04.007 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect European Journal of Internal Medicine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ejim