Liuyi Huang,* Xiaoxia Huang,* Wei Zhou, Yanting Jiang, Haiqing Zhu, Yuehong Lao, Zhenjia Deng, Yuting Tang, Jian Wang, Xi Li

Department of Clinical Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Medicine of Guangxi Department of Education, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Xi Li; Jian Wang, Department of Clinical Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Key Laboratory of Clinical Laboratory Medicine of Guangxi Department of Education, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning, Guangxi, 530021, People’s Republic of China, Email cicicats@126.com; wangjian616161@163.com

Objective: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are classified into four subgroups: dermatomyositis (DM), anti-synthetase syndrome (ASS), immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM), and sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM); however, the role of LGALS3BP in IIM remains unclear. Our study aimed to explore the ability of LGALS3BP to discriminate between the IIM subtypes. The correlation between serum LGALS3BP levels, clinical features, and inflammatory markers in patients with IIM was also assessed.
Methods: Based on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, we used bioinformatics analysis to screen for overlapping extracellular protein-differentially expressed genes between any two groups of DM, ASS, IMNM, and healthy controls (HCs). This study enrolled 84 patients with IIM and 36 HCs, and participant baseline data and laboratory parameters were recorded. Serum LGALS3BP levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: Through bioinformatics analysis, LGALS3BP was selected as a potential biomarker for the identification of DM, ASS, IMNM, and HC. LGALS3BP expression decreased sequentially in the DM, ASS, IMNM, and HC groups, with significant differences among the two groups. The ELISA results were similar to those of the bioinformatics analysis; however, the difference in serum LGALS3BP expression between DM and ASS was not statistically significant. According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, using HC as the control group, the area under the curve (AUC) values of serum LGALS3BP levels for the diagnosis of IIM, DM, and ASS were > 0.8. In addition, patients with elevated serum LGALS3BP levels had a higher prevalence of interstitial lung disease (ILD). Serum LGALS3BP levels correlated with inflammatory markers.
Conclusion: LGALS3BP is differentially expressed in DM, ASS, IMNM, and HC and may assist in assessing the severity of IIM-ILD.

Keywords: LGALS3BP, idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, dermatomyositis, anti-synthetase syndrome, immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy, interstitial lung disease