Serum Interleukin-36 α as a Candidate Biomarker to Distinguish Behcet's Syndrome and Psoriatic Arthritis

Behcet's syndrome (BS) is a rare systemic vasculitis characterized by different clinical manifestations. As no specific laboratory tests exist, the diagnosis relies on clinical criteria, and the differential diagnosis with other inflammatory diseases can be challenging. Indeed, in a relatively small proportion of patients, BS symptoms include only mucocutaneous, articular, gastrointestinal, and non-typical ocular manifestations, which are frequently found also in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). We investigate the ability of serum interleukin (IL)-36a-a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in cutaneous and articular inflammatory diseases-to differentiate BS from PsA. A cross-sectional study was performed on 90 patients with BS, 80 with PsA and 80 healthy controls. Significantly lower IL-36a concentrations were found in patients with BS as compared to PsA, although in both groups IL-36a was significantly increased compared to healthy controls. An empirical cut-off of 420.6 pg/mL displayed a specificity of 0.93, with a sensitivity of 0.70 (AUC 0.82) in discriminating PsA from BS. This cut-off displayed a good diagnostic performance also in BS patients lacking highly specific BS manifestations. Our results indicate that IL-36a might be involved in the pathogenesis of both BS and PsA, and might be a candidate biomarker to support the differential diagnosis of BS.

Automated summary

In this study, the ability of serum interleukin (IL)-36a concentration to differentiate Behcet's syndrome (BS) from psoriatic arthritis (PsA) was investigated. The results showed significantly lower IL-36a concentrations in BS patients compared to PsA patients, although both groups had significantly higher IL-36a levels compared to healthy controls. A cut-off of 420.6 pg/mL displayed good specificity and sensitivity in discriminating PsA from BS.