The clinical significance of thrombospondin-1 in systemic lupus erythematosus / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of serum thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and explore its possible involvement in SLE pathogenesis. Methods One hundred and thirty-eight patients diagnosed with SLE, including 124 cases of females and 14 males, as well as 60 healthy controls were recruited into this study. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine serum TSP-1 expression level between the two groups. Spearman correlation analysis method was used to analyze the correlation between TSP-1 level of complement 3, complement 4, anti-double-stranded DNA, Rheumatoid factor and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI). Results TSP-1 level in healthy control group was much higher than that in SLE patients. TSP-1 serum levels in SLE patients was positively correlated with complement 3 (r=0.386, P<0.01), complement 4 (r=0.301, P<0.01), and negatively correlated with anti-double-stranded DNA (r=-0.221, P=0.009), RF (r=-0.186, P=0.029) and SLEDAI (r=-0.273, P=0.001). Conclusion TSP-1 may play an immune-regulatory role in the development of SLE by inhibiting inflammation and autoantibody production. It could become a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of SLE.