Comparison between active and inactive disease in different organ systems
| Kidney* | Joints† | Skin/mucosa‡ | |||||||
| Inactive (n=363) BILAG= C/D/E | Active (n=42) BILAG= A/B | P value§ | Inactive (n=356) SLAM 24≤1 | Active (n=74) SLAM 24≥2 | P value§ | Inactive (n=317) SLAM4+6=0 | Active (n=109) SLAM4+6 ≥1 | P value§ | |
| Cytokines¶ | |||||||||
| INF-γ | 11.5 (6.9–19.3) | 18.5 (7.4–44.0) | 0.03 | 11.5 (6.8–19.5) | 12.3 (7.6–28.2) | 0.2 | 10.9 (6.7–19.6) | 13.0 (7.2–19.7) | 0.09 |
| IL-8 | 4.9 (3.1–8.4) | 5.6 (3.2–13.6) | 0.2 | 4.8 (3.0–8.4) | 5.2 (3.4–10.1) | 0.2 | 4.8 (3.0–8.2) | 5.0 (3.3–9.8) | 0.3 |
| IL-15 | 2.9 (2.3–3.8) | 4.2 (2.6–5.7) | 0.0007 | 2.9 (2.3–4.1) | 3.0 (2.4–4.0) | 0.6 | 2.9 (2.3–4.1) | 3.1 (2.4–3.9) | 0.5 |
| Eotaxin | 132.6 (96.6–188.5) | 144.1 (91.6–183.7) | 0.6 | 133.5 (96.7–185.9) | 129.2 (98.1–182.2) | 0.9 | 131.8 (99.7–185.7) | 134.8 (94.8–188.4) | 0.7 |
| MCP-1 | 105.2 (82.2–148.8) | 137.5 (96.2–200.3) | 0.007 | 106.7 (83.1–148.2) | 119.2 (83.1–172.0) | 0.2 | 108.8 (83.4–150.1) | 111.0 (81.1–183.4) | 0.6 |
| MDC | 880.9 (670.3–1136.0) | 677.0 (507.6–969.0) | 0.002 | 843.9 (647.2–1117.3) | 814.4 (584.1–1135.0) | 0.5 | 838.5 (623.0–1111.4) | 886.7 (662.8–1173.5) | 0.3 |
| MIP-1β | 68.9 (50.6–102.8) | 94.6 (54.7–122.9) | 0.05 | 69.7 (50.5–105.6) | 79.3 (54.4–125.0) | 0.1 | 73.8 (50.4–109.7) | 67.0 (51.2–106.8) | 0.6 |
| IL-10 | 0.78 (0.50–1.38) | 1.07 (0.83–3.38) | 0.002 | 0.79 (0.49–1.40) | 1.04 (0.64–1.93) | 0.04 | 0.85 (0.51–1.42) | 0.81 (0.52–1.78) | 0.6 |
| IL-6 | 1.09 (0.64–1.95) | 1.96 (1.08–4.00) | 0.0004 | 1.10 (0.66–2.01) | 1.49 (0.82–3.30) | 0.006 | 1.10 (0.67–2.07 | 1.34 (0.68–2.29) | 0.4 |
| TNF-α | 4.2 (3.0–5.8) | 6.5 (5.5–10.9) | 6.4×10–9 | 4.4 (3.1–5.9) | 5.6 (3.5–7.9) | 0.006 | 4.4 (3.1–6.1) | 4.6 (3.1–6.4) | 0.4 |
| IL-12/IL-23p40 | 172.0 (120.4–279.0) | 214.6 (145.0–405.5) | 0.01 | 178.9 (122.9–279.3) | 196.7 (112.8–369.5) | 0.2 | 180.4 (127.7–284.9) | 185.9 (111.4–294.9) | 0.7 |
| IL-16 | 194.8 (145.4–259.6) | 308.7 (228.2–413.6) | 1.7×10–7 | 208.6 (149.3–275.3) | 235.7 (154.5–366.7) | 0.04 | 216.6 (156.1–292.4) | 186.0 (137.9–269.4) | 0.03 |
| IL-1α | 6.1 (3.1–12.2) | 8.4 (4.5–21.7) | 0.04 | 5.6 (3.2–12.4) | 9.0 (3.9–18.9) | 0.005 | 6.4 (3.3–14.4) | 5.3 (3.1–11.8) | 0.5 |
| IL-7 | 5.0 (3.1–8.5) | 6.8 (4.4–9.2) | 0.16 | 5.0 (3.0–8.8) | 5.1 (3.2–8.1) | 0.7 | 5.0 (3.0–8.7) | 5.0 (3.2–8.4) | 0.7 |
| VEGF | 74.8 (47.8–119.7) | 86.1 (46.2–146.1) | 0.27 | 73.2 (47.1–118.0) | 91.4 (55.4–157.4) | 0.046 | 74.1 (47.9–112.9) | 81.6 (45.5–155.4) | 0.5 |
| Eotaxin-3 | 24.4 (19.3–34.2) | 31.2 (19.0–35.4) | 0.8 | 24.4 (19.4–34.9) | 24.7 (19.1–34.6) | 0.9 | 24.2 (19.4–35.6) | 25.0 (18.9–34.6) | 1.0 |
| IP-10 | 739.6 (458.8–1459.5) | 1205.3 (393.5–2428.9) | 0.4 | 700.8 (426.5–1311.3) | 940.0 (605.3–2566.7) | 0.0005 | 705.2 (416.1–1370.6) | 855.7 (529.2–2123.0) | 0.003 |
| MCP-4 | 79.8 (54.4–129.3) | 70.4 (48.3–95.3) | 0.04 | 76.5 (53.2–122.4) | 79.9 (53.8–126.2) | 0.4 | 75.4 (53.6–119.3) | 79.0 (51.9–129.0) | 0.8 |
| MIP-1α | 20.3 (17.0–26.9) | 29.5 (21.4–37.4) | 0.0009 | 21.0 (17.1–27.2) | 23.9 (17.8–32.0) | 0.08 | 21.8 (17.3–30.8) | 21.4 (17.2–24.9) | 0.2 |
| TARC | 87.0 (53.3–151.0) | 74.0 (41.0–132.1) | 0.2 | 86.7 (51.3–153.0) | 82.3 (55.9–131.6) | 0.9 | 78.0 (51.2–138.7) | 96.1 (54.4–160.1) | 0.1 |
| Standard clinical laboratory measurements¶ | |||||||||
| ESR | 18 (10–32) | 30 (14–67) | 0.0001 | 18 (10–32) | 29 (13.2–38.8) | 0.006 | 18 (10–33) | 22 (13–39) | 0.08 |
| C4 | 0.15 (0.11–0.20) | 0.13 (0.06–0.18) | 0.05 | 0.15 (0.11–0.20) | 0.13 (0.07–0.18) | 0.02 | 0.15 (0.10–0.20) | 0.15 (0.10–0.19) | 0.6 |
| C3 | 0.89 (0.74–1.05) | 0.74 (0.55–0.87) | 0.0005 | 0.88 (0.72–1.05) | 0.82 (0.62–1.04) | 0.1 | 0.88 (0.71–1.04) | 0.87 (0.74–1.05) | 0.8 |
| P-albumin | 39 (37–42) | 31 (26–31) | 4.2×10–16 | 39 (36–42) | 38 (34–41) | 0.08 | 39 (36–42) | 39 (35–41) | 0.3 |
| hsCRP | 1.5 (0.6–4.7) | 2.2 (1.1–8.9) | 0.01 | 1.6 (0.6–4.9) | 2.9 (0.8–7.4) | 0.047 | 1.6 (0.6–4.9) | 1.7 (0.8–6.2) | 0.3 |
| Anti-dsDNA | 4 (4–16) | 22 (5–89) | 2.2×10–6 | 5 (4–17) | 7 (4–49) | 0.02 | 5 (4–18) | 5 (4–26) | 0.6 |
| U-albumin/creatinine | 0.8 (0.5–2.3) | 75.4 (46.6–834.9) | 1.0×10–23 | 1.0 (0.5–5) | 1.5 (0.7–12.2) | 0.2 | 1.1 (0.5–6.7) | 1.1 (0.5–4.9) | 0.5 |
*Renal BILAG A/B as measure of kidney involvement (active, n=42) vs renal BILAG=C/D/E as a measure of patients without active kidney involvement (n=363).
†Patients with SLAM item 24>1 (n=74) were defined as patients with joint involvement (active) and patients with SLAM item 24≤1 (n=356) were defined as patients with inactive joint involvement.
‡Skin/mucosal involvement if SLAM 4+SLAM 6>0 (active, n=109). No skin/mucosal involvement if SLAM 4+6 = 1 (n=317).
§P values (Mann-Whitney U-test) are reported and highlighted in bold if significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing.
¶Median (25% quantile–75% quantile). Concentrations of cytokines are reported in pg/mL. Standard clinical laboratory measurements reported as ESR in mm/hour, Complement factor C4 in g/L, Complement factor C3 in g/L, plasma albumin (p-albumin) in g/L, high-sensitivity (hs) CRP in mg/L, anti-dsDNA units and urinary (u) albumin/creatinine ratio in mg/mmol.
BILAG, British Isles Lupus Assessment Group, Renal index; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; SLAM, SLE Activity Measure; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.