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

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 (<i>p</i> < 0.021) and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α (<i>p</i> < 0.033). Mixed effect logit modeling identified IP-10 (Odds Ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval] = 2.1 [1.4, 3.2], <i>p</i> < 0.001), TNF-α (OR = 1.8 [1.1, 3.0], <i>p</i> = 0.016), and Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein (MCP)-1 (OR = 2.0 [1.1, 3.9], <i>p</i> = 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.