Diagnostic efficacy of ANAs Combined with serum PTX3 and CCL19 for systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic efficacy of antinuclear antibody spectrum(ANAs) combined with serum pentraxin 3(PTX3) and chemokine ligand 19(CCL19) for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methodology: This is a retrospective study. A total of 80 patients with early atypical SLE who presented to the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology of Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University between January 2022 to June 2025 were retrospectively enrolled as the experimental group. Eighty patients with other autoimmune diseases admitted during the same period were assigned to the disease control group, while 60 gender- and age-matched healthy volunteers from the hospital’s Physical Examination Center served as the healthy control group. The Western blot assay was utilized to determine the expression of ANAs in serum, whereas the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was adopted for quantifying serum PTX3 and CCL19 levels.

Results: In the experimental group, complement C3, complement C4, platelet count, white blood cell count, and hemoglobin levels were significantly lower than those in both the healthy control and disease control groups, while serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels were markedly elevated(all P< 0.05). Serum PTX3 and CCL19 levels in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the other two groups(all P< 0.05). Compared with the single detection of ANAs, PTX3, or CCL19 alone, the combined detection of these three indicators exhibited significantly higher sensitivity(96.25%), accuracy(90.45%), and negative predictive value(97.60%) (all P< 0.05).

Conclusion: ANAs, serum PTX3, and CCL19 can all act as potential diagnostic biomarkers for SLE. The combined detection of these three indicators effectively enhances the diagnostic efficiency of SLE, which is superior to single-marker detection.