The Role of Chitinase-3-like Protein 1 (YKL-40) as a Marker of Disease Activity in Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients

Abstract

Abstract Background Ankylosing spondylitis is a prototype of spondyloarthritides that primarily affects the axial skeleton. Sacroiliitis is the hallmark and accompanied by inflammation of the entheses and formation of syndesmophytes, leading to spinal ankylosis in later stages. Prevalence estimates vary between 0.1% and 2% in different populations.The most utilized peripheral blood biomarkers of ankylosing spondylitis activity in clinical practice and clinical trials are ESR and CRP. However, they have low sensitivity and specificity. Objective To detect the role of YKL-40 as an objective Marker of disease activity in ankylosing Spondylitis Patients. Patient and Methods This study was a case control study, included fifteen ankylosing spondylitis patients were recruited from the outpatient clinic and inpatient department of Physical Medicine, Rheumatoloy and Rehabilitation of Ain Shams university hospitals and fifteen adult healthy volunteers as a control group. Approval of the Ain shams university research and ethical committee was obtained. Results There was no statistically significant difference between patient and control group as regard age and sex. YKL-40 showed 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. large scale studies with follow up of patients in response to drug treatment are needed to be done to assess its uses as a disease activity marker. large scale prospective studies are needed with the assessment of comorbidities and their time of development in correlation to YKL-40 as it has an excellent potential for prediction of these comorbidities. Conclusion YKL-40 marker is a good predictor for ankylosing spondylitis disease.