Anti-Ficolin-2 Antibody: Could It Be a Predictor of Proliferative Lupus Nephritis in Lupus Patients?

Abstract

Abstract Background Nephritis is a challenging domain of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). There is a growing need for identification of a non-invasive marker for diagnosing and monitoring nephritis. Objective To explore the relevance of using anti-ficolin-2 antibody (Anti-FCN2) as a biomarker for detecting lupus nephritis (LN), and its relation to renal biopsy histopathology and disease activity. Patients and Methods Sixty SLE patients were compared to 30 apparently healthy individuals. Thirty of the patients were LN patients (documented by a recent renal biopsy). Full history, examination and laboratory investigations were done. Activity was assessed by SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) score, and Anti-FCN2 titer was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique (ELISA). Results Forty-four of our SLE patients were in disease activity by SLEDAI score. Anti-FCN2 titer was significantly higher among SLE patients compared to control group (p value <0.001). It was also higher among patients with high disease activity compared to those with low disease activity and cutoff value was at 37 ng/ml (p value is < 0.001). AntiFCN2 titer was significantly higher among patients with LN compared to those without LN (p value is < 0.001) with best cutoff value at 72.50 ng/ml. Regarding LN patients, it was significantly higher among patients with proliferative changes than LN patients with non-proliferative changes (p value is 0.05) with best cutoff value at 155 ng/ml. Conclusion Anti-FCN2 shows promising results as a biomarker for lupus disease activity, especially regarding LN and proliferative changes. Further longitudinal studies on larger samples are needed to confirm.