Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38479808›Full record

ArticleRheumatology (Oxford, England)2025

Machine learning-driven immunophenotypic stratification of mixed connective tissue disease, corroborating the clinical heterogeneity.

Shinji Izuka, Toshihiko Komai, Takahiro Itamiya, Mineto Ota, Yasuo Nagafuchi, Hirofumi Shoda, Kosuke Matsuki, Kazuhiko Yamamoto, Tomohisa Okamura, Keishi Fujio

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 14% 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

6 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

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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 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Shinji IzukaDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-9724-4911
Toshihiko KomaiDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-5890-3606
Takahiro ItamiyaDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Mineto OtaDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Yasuo NagafuchiDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Hirofumi ShodaDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Kosuke MatsukiResearch Division, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
Kazuhiko YamamotoLaboratory for Autoimmune Diseases, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
Tomohisa OkamuraDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Keishi FujioDepartment of Allergy and Rheumatology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
The University of Tokyo · JPTokyo Medical University · JPChugai Pharma (United States) · USRIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences · JP

Funding

Chugai PharmaceuticalDepartment of Functional Genomics and Immunological DiseasesGrant-in-Aid for JSPS ResearchJSPS KAKENHI 22J20047
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe objective of this study was to stratify patients with MCTD, based on their immunophenotype.

methodsWe analysed the immunophenotype and transcriptome of 24 immune cell subsets [from patients with MCTD, SLE, idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) and SSc] from our functional genome database, ImmuNexUT (https://www.immunexut.org/). MCTD patients were stratified by employing machine-learning models, including Random Forest, trained by immunophenotyping data from SLE, IIM and SSc patients. The transcriptomes were analysed with gene set variation analysis (GSVA), and the clinical features of the MCTD subgroups were compared.

resultsThis study included 215 patients, including 22 patients with MCTD. Machine-learning models, constructed to classify SLE, IIM and SSc patients, based on immunophenotyping, were applied to MCTD patients, resulting in 16 patients being classified as having an SLEimmunophenotype and 6 as having a non-SLE immunophenotype. Among the MCTD patients, patients with the SLE immunophenotype had higher proportions of Th1 cells {2.85% [interquartile range (IQR) 1.54-3.91] vs 1.33% (IQR 0.99-1.74) P = 0.027} and plasmablasts [6.35% (IQR 4.17-17.49) vs 2.00% (IQR 1.20-2.80) P = 0.010]. Notably, the number of SLE-related symptoms was higher in patients with the SLE immunophenotype [2.0 (IQR 1.0-2.0) vs 1.0 (IQR 1.0-1.0) P = 0.038]. Moreover, the GSVA scores of interferon-α and -γ responses were significantly higher in patients with the SLE immunophenotype in central memory CD8+ T cells, while hedgehog signalling was higher in patients with the non-SLE immunophenotype, in five-cell subsets.

conclusionThis study describes the stratification of MCTD patients, based on immunophenotyping, suggesting the presence of distinct immunological processes behind the clinical subtypes of MCTD.

Indexed as

ImmunophenotypingMachine LearningMixed Connective Tissue DiseaseAdultFemaleHumansLupus Erythematosus, SystemicMaleMiddle AgedMyositisScleroderma, SystemicTranscriptomeidiopathic inflammatory myopathiesimmunophenotypingmachine learningmixed connective tissue diseasesystemic lupus erythematosussystemic sclerosis

Identifiers

PMID38479808
PMCPMC11879315
OpenAlexW4392791253

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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.