Interferon-Gamma-Inducible Protein-10 (IP-10) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) as Serological Predictors of Active Disease Status in Localized Scleroderma

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 25; no. 18; p. 10134
• Main Authors: Ashe, Brittany, Zigler, Christina Kelsey, Yabes, Jonathan, Magee, Kelsey, Kurzinski, Katherine, Torok, Kathryn S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 21.09.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biomarkers; Biomarkers - blood; Chemokine CXCL10 - blood; Chemokines; Cytokines; Disease; Erythema; Female; Humans; Inflammation; Interferon; Male; Middle Aged; Pathogenesis; Pediatrics; Proteins; Scleroderma; Scleroderma, Localized - blood; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - blood; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; cytokine; localized scleroderma; tumor necrosis factor-α; disease activity; morphea; biomarker; interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms251810134

We investigated the ability of a panel of immune-related cytokines and chemokines to predict the disease activity state in localized scleroderma (LS) subjects followed longitudinally. A total of 194 sera samples were obtained from 45 LS subjects with diverse types of LS (40% linear, 20% mixed, 16% craniofacial, 13% generalized, and 11% circumscribed) in our cohort. Cytokines/chemokines that were significantly elevated at the baseline active disease visit compared to the inactive disease state at follow-up were Interferon-Gamma-Inducible Protein (IP)-10 (p < 0.021) and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α (p < 0.033). Mixed effect logit modeling identified IP-10 (Odds Ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval] = 2.1 [1.4, 3.2], p < 0.001), TNF-α (OR = 1.8 [1.1, 3.0], p = 0.016), and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein (MCP)-1 (OR = 2.0 [1.1, 3.9], p = 0.034) as significant predictors of active disease status. These findings support earlier correlations between IP-10 and TNF-α with disease activity parameters in a cross-sectional Luminex™ serological study and may enhance clinical decision-making when disease activity is challenging to assess by clinical examination alone.