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. 2023 Jun 1;62(6):2304-2311.
doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keac581.

Analyses of plasma inflammatory proteins reveal biomarkers predictive of subsequent development of giant cell arteritis: a prospective study

Karin Wadström  1   2 , Lennart T H Jacobsson  1   3 , Aladdin J Mohammad  4   5 , Kenneth J Warrington  6 , Eric L Matteson  6 , Magnus E Jakobsson  7 , Carl Turesson  1   4
Affiliations

Analyses of plasma inflammatory proteins reveal biomarkers predictive of subsequent development of giant cell arteritis: a prospective study

Karin Wadström et al. Rheumatology (Oxford). .

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the relation between biomarkers of inflammation and subsequent development of GCA.

Method: Participants in the population-based Malmö Diet Cancer Study (MDCS; N = 30 447), established 1991-96, who were subsequently diagnosed with GCA, were identified in a structured process. GCA-free controls, matched for sex, year of birth and year of screening were selected from the study cohort. Baseline plasma samples were analysed using the antibody-based OLINK proteomics inflammation panel (92 inflammatory proteins). Analyses were pre-designated as hypothesis-driven or hypothesis-generating. In the latter, principal component analysis was used to identify groups of proteins that explain the variance in the proteome. Within components selected based on eigenvalues, proteins with a factor loading of >0.50 were investigated.

Results: Ninety-four cases with a confirmed incident diagnosis of GCA (median 11.9 years after inclusion) were identified. Among biomarkers with a priori hypotheses, IFN-γ was positively associated with GCA [odds ratio (OR) per s.d. 1.52; 95% CI 1.00, 2.30]. Eight biomarkers in the hypothesis-generating analyses were significantly associated with development of GCA. Among these, higher levels of IFN-γ (OR 2.37; 95% CI 1.14, 4.92) and monocyte chemotactic protein 3 (MCP3) (OR 4.27; 95% CI 1.26, 14.53) were particularly associated with increased risk of GCA in the subset sampled <8.5 years before diagnosis. Several other proteins known to be important for T cell function were also associated with GCA in these analyses, e.g. CXCL9, IL-2, CD40 and CCL25.

Conclusion: Elevated IFN-γ levels were found years prior to diagnosis of GCA. T cell activation may precede the clinical onset of GCA.

Keywords: GCA; IFN-γ; biomarkers; inflammation; pathogenesis.

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References

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