J Korean Rheum Assoc.  2003 Mar;10(1):16-22.

Do Increased Levels of Soluble Fas Correlate with Disease Activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

• Ki YA
• Lee SS
• Park MJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether levels of soluble Fas (sFas) are elevated in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and correlated with clinical disease activity.
METHODS
Serum samples were obtained from 62 SLE patients and 39 normal controls. We measured sFas levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Disease activity variables including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) were examined.
RESULTS
The mean age of the patients was 32.1 years (range 13~60 years) and the mean disease duration was 3.0 years (range 0.2~10.0 years); 1 patient was male (1.6%). The median serum sFas concentration was 610.0 pg/ml for SLE patients and 292.9 pg/ml in controls. The serum sFas concentration was significantly higher in SLE patients than in controls (p<0.001). The Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve showed that the area under the curve for sFas was 0.911. Using the cut-off value of 370.5 pg/ml, the sensitivity was 0.871 and the specificity was 0.846. However, we could not find any correlation between sFas levels and disease activity variables such as SLEDAI, complement, and anti-dsDNA antibodies. There was no significant difference in sFas levels between active (SLEDAI > or =8) and inactive (SLEDAI <8) SLE patients.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that sFas levels are elevated in SLE patients, but sFas does not reflect disease activity.

Keyword

Systemic lupus erythematosus; Soluble Fas; Disease activity

MeSH Terms

Antibodies
Complement System Proteins
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Humans
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic*
Male
ROC Curve
Sensitivity and Specificity
Antibodies
Complement System Proteins