DOI: 10.1177/09612033261465072 ISSN: 0961-2033

Serum RIPK3/MLKL as exploratory biomarker candidates for systemic lupus erythematosus

Guowang Zhao, Mingjun Li, Jianghong Lin, Qintong Xiao, Liu Wang, Qi Huang, Man Xiong, Yuanyuan Yang, Xiangming Yi
Show PDF Cite

Objective

This study aims to elucidate the novel role of serum receptor interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3)/mixed series of protein kinase-like domains (MLKL) levels in SLE and assess their correlation with clinical manifestations and serological parameters.

Methods

We employed enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) analysis to evaluate RIPK3/MLKL protein levels in serum from 90 SLE patients and 50 healthy controls (HC).

Results

Our findings reveal a significant elevation of serum RIPK3/MLKL protein levels in SLE patients compared to HC ( p = 0.0004 and p = 0.0005, respectively). Notably, these levels were closely associated with the disease’s clinical manifestations, notably heightened in active SLE compared to stable cases ( p = 0.0312 and p = 0.0096, respectively). Furthermore, while RIPK3 protein exhibited significant upregulation in patients with lupus nephritis (LN) compared to non-LN individuals ( p = 0.0017). SLE patients with high anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) titers exhibited notably higher RIPK3 levels compared to those with low ANA titers ( p < 0.0001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve demonstrated diagnostic potential for serum RIPK3/MLKL, with respective areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.6319 ( p = 0.0099) and 0.7374 ( p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

Our study illuminate serum RIPK3/MLKL proteins are exploratory biomarker candidates for SLE and necroptosis may be involved in SLE pathogenesis.

More from our Archive