GALECTINS-1,3 AND 9 IN PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS: ARE THERE ANY LINKS WITH DISEASE ACTIVITY OR IRREVERSIBLE ORGAN DAMAGE?

PV031 / #294 Poster Topic: AS04 - Biomarkers Background/Purpose To compare serum concentrations of galectins -1, 3 and 9 in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and healthy women, and to identify the relationship of these biomarkers with disease activity and damage index. Methods Seventy-nine women with SLE (according to the criteria of SLICC/ACR 2012) were included in the study. The median age was 32 [26;40] years, the median disease duration was 24 [1;144] months. High SLE activity (SLEDAI-2K>10) was recorded in 18 (22.8%), moderate (SLEDAI-2K= 5-10) – in 34 (43.0%), low activity or remission (SLEDAI-2K = 0-4) – in 27 (34.2%) patients. The SLICC damage index ranged from 0 to 6 (median [IQR] = 0 [0-1]). Glucocorticoids (GC) were received by 62 (78.5%) with median daily dose of prednisone 10 [5-20] mg, hydroxychloroquine – 60 (75.9%), immunosuppressants – 24 (30.4%) (cyclophosphamide – 2 (2.5%), mycophenolate mofetil – 16 (20.3%), azathioprine – 3 (3.8%), methotrexate – 3 (3.8%)), biological agents – 7 (8.9%) (rituximab – 5 (6.3%), belimumab – 2 (2.5%)), immunoglobulin – 3 (3.8%) patients. The control group included 21 women without immune-inflammatory rheumatic diseases, matched by age with patients with SLE. Serum concentrations of galectins-1,3,9 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Cloud-Clone Corp., China). Results Galectins-1,3 and 9 levels in SLE and in the control group are shown in Table 1. The use of GC, hydroxychloroquine, immunosuppressants and biological agents did not affect galectins levels. In SLE, galectin-1 correlated with SLEDAI-2K (r = 0.24, p = 0.033), hemoglobin (r = -0,23, p = 0,039), platelet count (r = -0,22, p =0,049), anti-Sm (r = 0,3, p = 0,007). Galectin-3 correlated with damage index (r = 0,29, p = 0,03), C-reactive protein (r = 0,37, p = 0,0046). Galectin-9 correlated with hemoglobin (r = -0,24, p = 0,034), anti-dsDNA (r = 0,31, p = 0,006). Clinical manifestations that occurred in the SLE group with a frequency of >10% were increased a-ds-DNA – in 54 (68.4%) patients, hypocomplementemia – in 52 (65.8%), rash - 34 (43.0%), arthritis – in 32 (40.5%), alopecia – in 24 (30.4%), nephritis – in 20 (25.3%), serositis – in 14 (17.7%). Galectin-1 levels were higher in patients with pleuritis or pericarditis than without serositis (2.5 [0.98-6.65] ng/ml vs 1.27 [0.91-1.67] ng/ml, p = 0,048). Similar results were obtained also for galectin-3 (1.63 [0.41-2,38] ng/ml vs 1.07 [0.87-1,33] ng/ml, p = 0,003). There were no differences in galectins levels for other common manifestations of SLE. Table 1. Galectins-1,3 and 9 levels in SLE and in the control group Conclusions SLE patients had higher serum galectin-1 levels and a trend toward elevated galectin-3 levels, while galectin-9 concentrations were similar to healthy women. Galectin-1 levels were linearly related to disease activity, and galectin-9 levels were linearly related to irreversible organ damage, although the associations were weak. Of the most common clinical manifestations of SLE, only serositis was associated with an increase in galectins-1 and 3. Both galectin-1 and galectin-9 were also correlated with some hematological and immunological parameters.