ArticleLupus science & medicine2018
Kynurenine pathway is altered in patients with SLE and associated with severe fatigue.
Article in Lupus science & medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 50 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism in rheumatic diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Pooled it
- Tryptophan Metabolism in Digestive and Extra-Digestive Diseases: Mechanisms, Clinical Implications, and Therapeutic Perspectives.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Observational
- Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy-based liquid biopsy for diagnosis and classification of lupus nephritis using urine biomarkers.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Amino acid metabolism modulates macrophage polarization: implications for autoimmune-related diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Altered gut mycobiome and cross-kingdom microbial interactions in systemic lupus erythematosus.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Salivary kynurenine pathway metabolites as potential non-invasive markers of glandular dysfunction in Sjögren's disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota and metabolism in systemic lupus erythematosus: from dysbiosis to targeted interventions.European journal of medical research · 2025Review
- Assessment of the Gut Microbiome in Patients with Coexisting Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Metabolite Profiling Under Dietary Myo-Inositol Supplementation in Laying Hens from Two High-Performing Strains.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Neuropsychiatric manifestations in systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjogren's disease.Autoimmunity reviews · 2025Review
- Quinolinic acid potentially links kidney injury to brain toxicity.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota-derived metabolites modulate Treg/Th17 balance: novel therapeutic targets in autoimmune diseases.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Causality of blood metabolites and metabolic pathways on Graves' disease and Graves' ophthalmopathy: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.Endocrine · 2024Article
- Review
- Regulation of macrophage polarization by targeted metabolic reprogramming for the treatment of lupus nephritis.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Review
- Alteration in kynurenine pathway metabolites in young women with autoimmune thyroiditis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Dietary tryptophan and genetic susceptibility expand gut microbiota that promote systemic autoimmune activation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The kynurenine pathway in patients with rheumatoid arthritis during tumor necrosis factor α inhibitors treatment.Reumatologia · 2024Article
- Plasma acylcarnitine in elderly Taiwanese: as biomarkers of possible sarcopenia and sarcopenia.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveFatigue has been reported as the most disturbing symptom in a majority of patients with SLE. Depression is common and often severe. Together these symptoms cause significant morbidity and affect patients with otherwise relatively mild disease. Tryptophan and its metabolites in the kynurenine pathway are known to be important in several psychiatric conditions, for example, depression, which are often also associated with fatigue. We therefore investigated the kynurenine pathway in patients with SLE and controls.
methodsIn a cross-sectional design plasma samples from 132 well-characterised patients with SLE and 30 age-matched and gender-matched population-based controls were analysed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to measure the levels of tryptophan and its metabolites kynurenine and quinolinic acid. Fatigue was measured with Fatigue Severity Scale and depression with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. SLE disease activity was assessed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI).
resultsThe kynurenine/tryptophan ratio, as a measure of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) activity, was increased in patients with SLE. Patients with active disease (SLEDAI ≥6) showed lower tryptophan levels compared with controls (54 µM, SD=19 vs 62 µM, SD=14, p=0.03), although patients with SLE overall did not differ compared with controls. Patients with SLE had higher levels of tryptophan metabolites kynurenine (966 nM, SD=530) and quinolinic acid (546 nM, SD=480) compared with controls (kynurenine: 712 nM, SD=230, p=0.0001; quinolinic acid: 380 nM, SD=150, p=0.001). Kynurenine, quinolinic acid and the kynurenine/tryptophan ratio correlated weakly with severe fatigue (
conclusionsMetabolites in the kynurenine pathway are altered in patients with SLE compared with controls. Interestingly, fatigue correlated weakly with measures of enhanced tryptophan metabolism, while depression did not. Drugs targeting enzymes in the kynurenine pathway, for example, IDO inhibitors or niacin (B12) supplementation, which suppresses IDO activity, merit further investigation as treatments in SLE.
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