Serum inflammatory biomarkers fail to identify early axial spondyloarthritis: results from the SpondyloArthritis Caught Early (SPACE) cohort

Maureen C. Turina, Nataliya Yeremenko, Floris van Gaalen, Maikel van Oosterhout, Inger J. Berg, Ramona Ramonda, Cristina M. C. Lebre, Robert Landewé, Dominique Baeten

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Abstract

Decreasing the diagnostic delay in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) remains a major challenge. Here, we assessed the value of serum inflammatory biomarkers to distinguish early axSpA from other pathologies in a large cohort of patients referred with early back pain. Serum c reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and calprotectin were determined in the SPondyloArthritis Caught Early (SPACE) cohort (n=310), an early back pain inception cohort. Additionally, explorative serum biomarkers derived from the literature (interleukin-27 (IL-27), human β-defensin-2 (hBD-2) and lipcolin-2 (LCN-2)) were determined by ELISA in full-blown patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (n=21) and healthy controls (n=20). Serum CRP and ESR levels were not elevated in early axSpA versus 'control' back pain patients. Serum calprotectin was elevated in early axSpA versus controls (p=0.01) but failed to identify early axSpA at the individual level (positive predictive value of 38.7%). As to explorative biomarkers, serum levels of IL-27 were not detectable, and hBD-2 and LCN-2 serum levels were not elevated in full-blown AS versus healthy controls (p=0.572, p=0.562, respectively). Therefore, these markers were not further determined in the SPACE cohort. None of the candidate serum inflammatory markers were useful as diagnostic markers in the early phase of axSpA
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e000319
JournalRMD OPEN
Volume3
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2017

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