High YKL-40 serum levels and its expression in the muscle tissues of patients with antisynthetase syndrome

Abstract

Background: The protein chitinase-3-like-1 (YKL-40) is rarely analyzed in patients with myositis. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate YKL-40 serum levels; correlate them with laboratory and clinical parameters, disease status, and treatment schemes; and analyze the YKL-40 expression in the muscle tissues of patients with antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD). Methods: This cross-sectional single-center study included 64 adult patients with ASSD who were age-, gender-, and ethnicity-matched to 64 healthy control individuals. Their YKL-40 serum levels were analyzed using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kit method, while YKL-40 expression in muscle tissues was analyzed using an immunohistochemical technique. Disease status was assessed using the International Myositis Assessment and Clinical Studies Group (IMACS) set scores. Results: The patients’ mean age was 44.8 ± 11.8 years, and median disease duration was 1.5 (0.0–4.0) years. These patients were predominantly female (82.8%) and Caucasian (73.4%). Most patients had stable disease. The median YKL-40 serum level was significantly higher in patients with ASSD when compared to the healthy individuals: 538.4 (363.4–853.1) pg/mL versus 270.0 (201.8–451.9) pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.001. However, YKL-40 serum levels did not correlate with any clinical, laboratory, disease status, or therapeutic parameters (P > 0.050), except tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) serum levels (Spearman’s correlation, rho = 0.382; P = 0.007). YKL-40 was highly expressed by inflammatory cells found in muscle biopsy specimens. Conclusions: High YKL-40 serum levels were observed in patients with ASSD and correlated positively with TNF-α serum levels. Moreover, YKL-40 was expressed by the inflammatory cells of the muscle tissue.