MCP-1 in urine as biomarker of disease activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract Conventional clinical parameters are not sensitive or specific enough for detecting ongoing disease activity in the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). Measurement of cytokines in urine is an encouraging approach to detection of early flares in this disease. Here we have profiled 27 different cytokines, chemokines and celular growth factors in the urine of 48 patients previously diagnosed of SLE as potential biomarkers of disease activity. Correlation analysis with Bonferroni correction showed that MCP-1 was the only immune mediator which levels in urine correlated directly with the SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 (SLEDAI-2 K) score (correlation coefficient, p ): MCP-1 (0.45, 0.003). MCP-1 correlated inversely with levels of C3 complement protein in serum (−0.50, 0.001). MCP-1 showed significant higher levels in patients with severe disease activity in comparison with those exhibiting mild activity. Levels of this chemokine were also higher in patients with severe disease activity in comparison with patients with inactive disease and healthy controls. Areas under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) for detection of severe disease (SLEDAI ⩾ 8) was as follows for MCP-1: [AUROC, (IC95%), p ]: [0.81 (0.65–0.96) 0.003]. In addition, MCP-1 showed a good result in the AUROC analysis for detecting renal involvement [0.70 (0.52–0.87) 0.050]. When correlation analysis were repeated excluding those patients with active renal disease ( n  = 14), levels of MCP-1 in urine kept on showing a significant positive association with SLEDAI-2 K score. In conclusion, multiplex-based cytokine profiling in urine demonstrated the superiority of MCP-1 over a wide range of cytokines as biomarker of disease activity in SLE.