Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33934349›Full record

ArticleClinical and experimental immunology2021

Serum and urine free light chains measurements in patients with systemic sclerosis: novel biomarkers for disease activity.

Antonietta Gigante, Chiara Pellicano, Giorgia Leodori, Cecilia Napodano, Lorenzo Vantaggio, Francesca Gulli, Mariapaola Marino, Marcella Visentini, Edoardo Rosato, Umberto Basile

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical and experimental immunology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. In Systemic Sclerosis Patients, Peripheral Blood CD21Journal of personalized medicine · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Antonietta GiganteDepartment of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Chiara PellicanoDepartment of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Giorgia LeodoriDepartment of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Cecilia NapodanoDipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia Traslazionale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario 'A. Gemelli' IRCCS, Rome, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8720-6284
Lorenzo VantaggioDepartment of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Francesca GulliLaboratorio di Patologia Clinica, Ospedale Madre Giuseppina Vannini, Rome, Italy.
Mariapaola MarinoDipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia Traslazionale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario 'A. Gemelli' IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Marcella VisentiniDepartment of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Edoardo RosatoDepartment of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-7417-8093
Umberto BasileArea Diagnostica di Laboratorio, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario 'A. Gemelli', IRCCS, Rome, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8328-2570
Sapienza University of Rome · ITUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Circulating free light chains (FLCs), considered biomarkers of B cell activity, are frequently elevated in patients affected by systemic inflammatory autoimmune diseases. As the systemic sclerosis (SSc) clinical course can be variable, this study is aimed at evaluating FLCs levels in affected individuals as biomarkers of disease activity. We assessed FLC levels in serum and urine of 72 SSc patients and 30 healthy controls (HC). Results were analyzed in comparison with overall clinical and laboratory findings, disease activity index (DAI) and disease severity scale (DSS). SSc patients displayed increased levels of κ and λ FLC in serum significantly higher than HC (p = 0.0001) alongside the mean values of free κ/λ ratio and κ + λ sum (p = 0.0001). SSc patients showed increased free κ in urine with a κ/λ higher than HC (p = 0.0001). SSc patients with increased κ + λ in serum showed that erythro-sedimentation rate (p = 0.034), C-reactive protein (p = 0.003), DAI (p = 0.024) and DSS (p = 0.015) were higher if compared to SSc patients with normal levels of FLC. A positive linear correlation was found between serum levels of free κ and DAI (r = 0.29, p = 0.014). In addition, SSc patients with increased free κ in urine had higher DAI (p = 0.048) than SSc patients with normal κ levels. Our results strengthen the role of serum FLC as useful biomarker in clinical practice to early diagnosis and monitor disease activity, showing for the first time that also urine FLC levels correlated with disease activity in SSc patients.

Indexed as

AgedBiomarkersBlood SedimentationB-LymphocytesC-Reactive ProteinFemaleHumansImmunoglobulin kappa-ChainsImmunoglobulin lambda-ChainsImmunoglobulin Light ChainsMaleMiddle AgedScleroderma, SystemicBiomarkersC-Reactive ProteinImmunoglobulin kappa-ChainsImmunoglobulin lambda-ChainsImmunoglobulin Light Chainsautoimmunityserum free light chainssystemic sclerosisurine free light chains

Identifiers

PMID33934349
PMCPMC8274154
OpenAlexW3157377052

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.