S100A4 Serum Levels Correlate with Disease Activity, Skin Fibrosis and Lung Involvement in Systemic Sclerosis
Abstract
Background In our previous study we demonstrated that S100A4 is overexpressed in scleroderma (SSc) skin, fibroblasts and preclinical models of SSc in a TGF-β dependent manner. We showed that S100A4 is a new regulator of TGF-β signalling and its inhibition prevents the stimulatory effects of TGF-β.
Inactivation of S100A4 prevented dermal fibrosis induced by bleomycin and in Tsk-1 mice. Objectives To evaluate S100A4 in sera of SSc patients and characterise its potential association with SSc-related features.
Materials and Methods A total of 33 patients (29 females; mean age 52.8; disease duration 4.2 years; dcSSc/lcSSc = 8/25) who met the ACR classification criteria for SSc and 20 healthy individuals matched by age and sex were included in this study. Serum S100A4 levels were measured using ELISA (CycLex Co., Ltd., Nagano, Japan).
CRP, ANA and ENA complex were evaluated. SSc-related manifestations were obtained from the Czech Registry Database of SSc patients.
Skin changes were assessed using the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) and EUSTAR SSc activity score was determined. Data are presented as mean +- SEM.