Clinical Correlation Between IL-14α And Sjogren’s Syndrome

Objective:The serum level of IL-14α in peripheral blood of patients with Sjogren’s syndrome(SS)was detected by Western blotting(WB).With the aim of explore the possible pathogenesis and significance of IL-14α in SS patients,by comparing the difference of IL-14α level in different groups of SS patients,and analyze the correlation between IL-14α and clinical indexes,so as to provide a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of SS.Methods:(1)A total of 121 patients with SS,24 patients with Undifferentiated connective tissue disease(UCTD),six patients with Non-sjogren’s syndrome dry mouth(NSDM)were included in the study.All of them were selected from outpatients and inpatients in the rheumatology and immunology department of North Jiangsu People’s Hosital from October 2021 to October 2022.At the same time,30 healthy people matched in age and sex were used as healthy control group.The patients with Sjogren’s syndrome were divided into initial group,relapse group and stable group.The initial group.consisted of 38 people,the relapse group of 36 people,and the stable group of 47 people.(2)General information,laboratory test results and clinical data of the subjects and healthy control population were collected.(3)The serum level of IL-14α in peripheral blood of the subjects and healthy controls was detected by WB assay.SPSS 26.0 was used for statistical analysis and GraphPad Prism 8 was used to draw charts.Non-parametric rank sum test was used to compare the level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum between subjects and healthy controls.Non-parametric rank sum test was used to compare the level of IL-14α in peripheral blood of UCTD patients with anti-SSA antibody and/or anti-SSB antibody positive with that of healthy control group or UCTD patients with anti-SSA antibody and/or anti-SSB antibody negative.Nonparametric rank sum test was used to compare the level of IL-14α in SS patients with different labial gland biopsy grades,different disease stages and different disease stages.The Receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)was used to simulate and evaluate the value of IL-14α in distinguishing healthy population from SS patients.The cut-off value of IL-14α was calculated according to ROC curve,and the clinical characteristics of SS patients in low and high expression groups of IL-14α were compared.Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation between IL-14α expression level in peripheral blood serum of SS patients and laboratory test results.Results:(1)The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of SS patients was higher than that of healthy control group,UCTD patients and NSDM patients,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in IL-14α level in peripheral blood serum of NSDM patients and UCTD patients compared with healthy control group(P>0.05).(2)The level of IL-14α in serum of UCTD patients with positive anti-SSA antibody and/or anti-SSB antibody was significantly higher than that of healthy controls and UCTD patients with negative anti-SSA antibody and anti-SSB antibody(P<0.05).The serum IL-14α levels in UCTD patients with negative anti-SSA and anti-SSB antibodies were not significantly different from those in healthy controls(P>0.05).(3)Comparative analysis of IL-14α level in peripheral blood serum of SS patients and the degree of lymphocyte infiltration in labial gland tissue was performed.There was no significant difference in IL-14a level in peripheral blood serum of patients with grade Ⅰ and grade Ⅱ labial gland biopsy(P>0.05).The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of patients with labial gland biopsy grade Ⅰ was lower than that of patients with labial gland biopsy grade Ⅲ and grade Ⅳ,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of patients with labial gland biopsy grade Ⅱ was lower than that of patients with labial gland biopsy grade Ⅲ and grade Ⅳ,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of patients with lip gland biopsy of grade Ⅲ was lower than that of patients with lip gland biopsy of grade Ⅳ,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).(4)Comparison of IL-14α level in peripheral blood serum of patients with different disease course was conducted.There was no statistical difference in IL-14α level in peripheral blood serum of patients with different disease course(P>0.05).(5)The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of SS patients in initial group,relapse group and stable group was compared with that of healthy population.The level of IL-14αin peripheral blood serum of SS patients in initial group and relapse group was higher than that of healthy control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum between the initial SS group and the recurrent SS group(P>0.05).The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of SS patients in,stable group was similar to that of healthy control group,with no statistical difference(P>0.05).The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood serum of SS patients in stable group was significantly lower than that in initial and relapse group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).(6)ROC curve was used to evaluate the value of IL-14α in distinguishing SS patients from healthy populations.The area under curve(AUC)of IL-14α was 64.53%,the sensitivity was 49.60%,the specificity was 75.00%,the 95%CI was 0.53-0.76,the Yoden index was 24.69%,and the IL-14α cutoff value was 1.86.(7)Comparative analysis of clinical manifestations between high IL-14α group and low IL-14α group.According to the IL-14α truncation value,SS patients were divided into high IL-14α group and low IL-14α group,and the number of cases of high IL-14α group combination with interstitial pneumonia was higher than that of low IL-14α group,the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).There were no significant differences in dry mouth,dry eyes,arthralgia,rash,fatigue,oral-ulcer,dental caries,Raynaud’s phenomenon,and hemocytopenia between the two groups(P>0.05).(8)Correlation analysis between IL-14α level in peripheral blood serum of SS patients and laboratory indexes.The level of IL-14α in peripheral blood of SS patients was positively correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation,anti-SSA antibody,anti-SSB antibody and immunoglobulin IgG,and negatively correlated with lymphocyte count in peripheral blood.With leukocytes,neutrophils,monocytes,erythrocytes,hemoglobin,platelets,C-reactive protein,alanine-aminotransferase,glutamic oxalic aminotransferase,total protein,albumin,globulin,total bilirubin,direct bilirubin,indirect bilirubin,urea,uric-acid,creatinine,blood-glucose,free-T3,free-T4,thyrotropin,rheumatoid-factor,immunoglobulin IgA,immunoglobulin IgM,complement C3,complement C4,CD3+CD4+in lymphocyte percentage,CD3+CD8+in lymphocyte percentage,CD4+/CD8+,anti-double-stranded DNA antibody,anti-SM antibody,anti-nucleosome antibody,anti-C1q antibody,anti-Jo 1 antibody,anti-Sc170 antibody,anti-PM/SCL antibody,anti-histone antibody,anti-Ulrnp antibody,anti-mitochondrial M2 antibody,anti-centromeric protein B antibody,anti-ribosomal P protein antibody,and anti-proliferating cell antigen antibody were not correlated(P>0.05).Conclusion:IL-14α involved in the pathogenesis of SS and related to the disease activity of SS patients,and play a role in the destruction of glands and antibody production in SS patients.