Serum Calprotectin - a NET Product - as a Biomarker of Disease Activity in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Single-Center Case-Control Study from Poland

Background: Calprotectin (S100A8/A9 or myeloid-related protein 8/14) is a heterodimeric S100 complex expressed in leu-kocytes. Calprotectin participates in development of the inflammatory response by binding to receptors for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and Toll-like receptors (TLR). The clinical activity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is evaluated using the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) criteria and the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI). This Polish single-center case-control study aimed to evaluate serum levels of calprotectin as a rapid diagnostic biomarker of SLE (59 patients with SLE were compared with 52 healthy controls). Material/Methods: Calprotectin concentration was measured with the use of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The SLE activity of the patients was assessed by the SLEDAI scale. Statistical analysis of the results was carried out using MedCalc 15.8 software. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A significantly higher concentration of calprotectin was found in the study group compared to the control group (medians: 3.11 vs 2.45 ng/ml; P=0.0013). We found that calprotectin has high sensitivity (89.83%) and speci-ficity (53.85%) in differentiating between SLE patients and healthy volunteers. We found that calprotectin has very high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (82.46%) in detection of patients with moderate and severe SLE as-sessed using SLEDAI. Conclusions: Consistent with previous studies, serum calprotectin level was revealed to have potential as a rapid diagnos-tic biomarker of disease activity in patients with SLE.

Automated summary

This study aimed to evaluate the potential of serum calprotectin as a rapid diagnostic biomarker for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Comparing 59 SLE patients with 52 healthy controls, it was found that the study group had significantly higher levels of calprotectin. Calprotectin showed high sensitivity and specificity in differentiating SLE patients from healthy volunteers, as well as in detecting moderate to severe SLE patients.