ArticleTherapeutic advances in chronic disease2020
Increased levels of HE4 (WFDC2) in systemic sclerosis: a novel biomarker reflecting interstitial lung disease severity?
Article in Therapeutic advances in chronic disease, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and risk factors of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease in East Asia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of rheumatic diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Human epididymis protein 4: a potential prognostic biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- Proteomic profiling reveals immunologic mediators of endotoxin-related lung function decline: a longitudinal prospective study in textile workers.Respiratory research · 2026Article
- Human epididymis protein 4-annexin II binding promotes aberrant epithelial-fibroblast crosstalk in pulmonary fibrosis.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the epithelial cell, fibroblast, and key gene alterations in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Protein profiling in systemic sclerosis patients with different pulmonary complications using proteomic antibody microarray.Arthritis research & therapy · 2024Article
- Versatile whey acidic protein four-disulfide core domain proteins: biology and role in diseases.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Review
- Increased serum human epididymis protein 4 is associated with disease activity and systemic involvement in pediatric-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Acute Exacerbations of Interstitial Lung Diseases: Focus on Biomarkers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Recent innovations in the screening and diagnosis of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease.Expert review of clinical immunology · 2023Review
- Elevated serum levels of human epididymis protein 4 in adult patients with proliferative lupus nephritis.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Elevated serum human epididymis protein 4 is associated with disease severity and worse survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a cohort study.Annals of translational medicine · 2022Article
- Elevated Serum Human Epididymis Protein 4 Is Associated With Disease Activity and Systemic Involvements in Primary Sjögren's Syndrome.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Article
- Serum Human Epididymis Protein 4 as a Novel Biomarker in Identifying Patients With Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHuman epididymis protein 4 (HE4, also known as WFDC-2) has been implicated in fibrotic disorders pathobiology. We tested the hypothesis that HE4 may be used as a candidate biomarker for systemic sclerosis (SSc)-related interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD).
methodsA total of 169 consecutive SSc patients and 169 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled and blood samples were collected. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) and paired lavage was performed on 169 patients and 37 healthy controls. All patients were classified as having SSc-no ILD or SSc-ILD, based on high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans of the chest, and a semiquantitative grade of ILD extent was evaluated through CT scans (grade 1, 0-25%; grade 2, 26-50%; grade 3, 51-75%; grade 4, 76-100%). Serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) HE4 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
resultsSerum HE4 levels were higher in SSc patients [median (interquartile range), 139.4 (85.9-181.8) pmol/l] compared with healthy controls [39.5 (24.3-54.2) pmol/l,
conclusionThis is the first study to demonstrate the potential clinical utility of blood and BALF HE4 as a biomarker for SSc-ILD. Future prospective validation studies are warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.