ArticleACR open rheumatology2026
Performance of Circulating Inflammatory Biomarkers and Krebs von den Lungen 6 for Predicting Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis in Patients With Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease.
Article in ACR open rheumatology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Biomarker patterns across skin-lung-gut burden in systemic sclerosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the predictive performance of inflammatory biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP) and Krebs von den Lungen 6 (KL-6), for the development of progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD).
methodsA total of 135 patients with SSc-ILD were retrospectively selected from a single-center prospective registry. The predictive performance of individual biomarkers and their combinations for PPF development was evaluated using area under the curve (AUC) values from receiver operating characteristic analysis. A time-varying Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess the prognostic significance of near-term dynamic changes in KL-6 levels.
resultsDuring a median follow-up of 43 months, 26 patients (19%) developed PPF. Baseline CRP and KL-6 levels did not correlate with each other. Patients with high baseline KL-6 (≥1,000 U/mL) had more extensive ILD and reduced forced vital capacity compared to those with low levels. Baseline KL-6 demonstrated superior predictive performance for ILD progression (with the highest AUC) compared to CRP. The PPF-free survival rate was significantly lower in the high KL-6 group than in the low KL-6 group (P = 0.02). A doubling of KL-6 levels at any time from 12 months to 6 months before PPF assessment or censoring was associated with a significantly higher risk of subsequent PPF development (hazard ratio 1.66 [95% confidence interval 1.13-2.45]).
conclusionBaseline KL-6 and CRP values identify distinct subsets of SSc-ILD patients. Elevated baseline KL-6 levels and a significant rise over the subsequent six months are associated with an increased risk of PPF, supporting their potential as prognostic biomarkers.
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.