AT A GLANCE

A new study published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases reports on new auto-antibodies that could be used to diagnose relapsing polychondritis (RP) and predict its recurrence.¹

“The lack of effective biomarkers for RP poses a significant challenge in its early diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to identify novel auto-antibodies and elucidate the pathogenesis and molecular heterogeneity of RP,” explain study authors Liu et al.

Plasma samples were sourced from 467 RP patients, 164 healthy controls, and 186 disease controls for study purposes; then, two sequential microarrays and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were performed to sequentially discover, validate, and verify new auto-antibodies. In addition, machine learning and differential analysis were used to identify diagnosis-specific auto-antibodies and their correlation with disease activity, recurrence, and remission.

According to the authors, levels of 1344 auto-antibodies associated with pathways involving autoimmune responses, infections, and cardiovascular lesions were elevated in RP patients. In particular, 14 new auto-antibodies were identified, which differentiated RP versus healthy and disease controls with sensitivities of 41% and 49.7% and specificities of 91.7% and 90.5%, respectively. Notably, six of these auto-antibodies showed good diagnostic performance and were consistently verified; specifically, anti-C4B was positively correlated with disease activity, while increased anti-KRT16 predicted RP recurrence within 1 year. Also, anti-C4B, anti-FNBP4, and anti-KRT10 decreased from acute attack to remission.

“The 14 autoantibodies promoted a non-invasive early detection of RP, predicted disease recurrence and provided new insights into the understanding of RP pathogenesis,” conclude the authors.

Reference

1.     Liu Y, Zhao M, Zhang L, et al. Autoantibody reactome analysis reveals diagnostic biomarkers and molecular classification for relapsing polychondritis (online ahead of print July 8, 2025). Ann Rheum Dis.