Nervous system involvement in patients with SLE, termed neuropsychiatric SLE (NPSLE), constitutes a diagnostic challenge, and its management is still poorly optimised. EmergThing diagnostic biomarkers in NPSLE that displayed satisfactory ability to discriminate between NPSLE and controls include serum interleukin (IL)-6, microRNA (miR)-23a, miR-155, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) α-Klotho. CSF lipocalin-2, macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF), and immunoglobulin (Ig)M also displayed such ability in two ethnically diverse cohorts. Serum interferon (IFN)-α and neuron specific enolase (NSE) were recently reported to moderately correlate with disease activity in patients with active NPSLE. CSF IL-8, IL-13, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) exhibited excellent sensitivity, yet poorer specificity, as predictors of response to therapy in patients withs entry summarises recent insights over the past decade in laboratory biomarkers of diagnosis, monitoring, and prognosis of NPSLE.
| CNS | PNS | |
|---|---|---|
| Diffuse | Focal | |
| Acute confusional state | Aseptic meningitis | Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy |
| Anxiety disorders | Cerebrovascular disease | Autonomic disorder |
| Cognitive dysfunction | Demyelinating syndromes | Mononeuropathy (single/multiplex) |
| Mood disorders | Headache | Myasthenia gravis |
| Psychosis | Movement disorder | Cranial neuropathy |
| Myelopathy | Plexopathy | |
| Seizure disorders | Polyneuropathy | |
| Biomarker | Sample | Feature | Comparator | Metrics | References | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antibodies | ||||||||||||
| Anti-ribosomal P (+) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | AUC: 0.57; OR: 2.0–3.3 | Huang et al., 2020 | [22] | ; Zhang et al., 2021 | [19] | ||||
| Unspecified; Diffuse | Pooled OR: 1.6–3.1 | Choi et al., 2020 | [18] | |||||||||
| Anti-Sm (+) | Serum/ plasma |
Focal; Unspecified | Non-seizure SLE; Non-NP SLE, MS, NMO and VM | OR: 1.0–3.3 | Mikdashi et al., 2005 | [15] | ; Ushigusa et al., 2016 | [23] | ||||
| Unspecified | Non-NP SLE, MS, NMO and VM | Adj. OR: 0.9 | Ushigusa et al., 2016 | [23] | ||||||||
| aCLs * (+) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified; Focal | Non-NP SLE; Non-seizure SLE | OR: 1.9–7.3 | Govoni et al., 2012 | [9] | ; Karassa et al., 2000 | [16] | ; Hawro et al., 2015 | [13] | ; Mikdashi et al., 2005 | [15] |
| Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | Adj. OR: 3.1 | Mok et al., 2001 | [14] | ||||||||
| Focal | Non-seizure SLE | HR: 2.2 | Mikdashi et al., 2005 | [15] | ||||||||
| Anti-β | 2 | GP1 * (+) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified; Focal | Non-NP SLE; Non-CVD SLE; Non-headache SLE; Non-seizure SLE | OR: 2.5–11.3 | Govoni et al., 2012 | [9] | ; Hawro et al., 2015 | [13] | ||
| Anti-GAPDH (levels) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | N/A | ρ = 0.57 | Sun et al., 2019 | [48] | ||||||
| Anti-GABAR | † | (+) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | OR: 4.6–5.5 | Tsuchiya et al., 2014 | [49] | ||||
| Anti-vimentin | ‡ | (<40.5 NFI) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | Sens.: 88%; Spec.: 66%; AUC: 0.81; OR: 13.5 | van der Meulen et al., 2017 | [50] | ||||
| Anti-heparan sulphate | ‡ | (>20.5 NFI) | Sens.: 65%; Spec.: 70%; AUC: 0.72; OR: 4.5 | |||||||||
| Anti-nucleoporin 62 | ‡ | (<26.5 NFI) | Sens.: 81%; Spec.: 55%; AUC: 0.72; OR: 4.5 | |||||||||
| Anti-prothrombin | ‡ | (<32.5 NFI) | Sens.: 65%; Spec.: 65%; AUC: 0.69; OR: 3.6 | |||||||||
| Anti-glycoprotein 2 | ‡ | (<34.5 NFI) | Sens.: 68%; Spec.: 65%; AUC: 0.68; OR: 4.0 | |||||||||
| Anti-cardiolipin | ‡ | (>0.5 NFI) | Sens.: 45%; Spec.: 87%; AUC: 0.66; OR: 5.3 | |||||||||
| Anti-histone H2A | ‡ | (>189.0 NFI) | Sens.: 61%; Spec.: 64%; AUC: 0.65; OR: 2.7 | |||||||||
| Anti-histone H2B | ‡ | (>146.5 NFI) | Sens.: 64%; Spec.: 63%; AUC: 0.65; OR: 2.9 | |||||||||
| Anti-collagen II | ‡ | (>4.5 NFI) | Sens.: 65%; Spec.: 58%; AUC: 0.65; OR: 2.6 | |||||||||
| Anti-heparin | ‡ | (>174.0 NFI) | Sens.: 65%; Spec.: 61%; AUC: 0.65; OR: 2.8 | |||||||||
| Anti-amyloid | ‡ | (>1.5 NFI) | Sens.: 70%; Spec.: 58%; AUC: 0.65; OR: 3.2 | |||||||||
| Anti-suprabasin (A.I. ≥1.0) | CSF | Unspecified | Non-NP SLE, MS and NPH | Sens.: 42%; Spec.: 92%; AUC: 0.78 | Ichinose et al., 2018 | [40] | ||||||
| Proteins/cytokines | ||||||||||||
| C3 (low) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | OR: 3.8 | Karassa et al., 2000 | [16] | ||||||
| C3 (levels) | Non-NP SLE, MS, NMO and VM | Adj. OR: 1.1 | Ushigusa et al., 2016 | [23] | ||||||||
| NfL (↑) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | AUC: 0.65 | Engel et al., 2021 | [51] | ||||||
| NSE (levels) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | ρ = −0.37 | Hawro et al., 2015 | [52] | ||||||
| HMGB1 (levels) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | AUC: 0.84; OR: 1.7 | Huang et al., 2020 | [22] | ||||||
| IL-6 (>74.9 pg/mL; ↑) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | Sens.: 75%; Spec.: 100%; AUC: 0.89 | Kitagori et al., 2019 | [21] | ||||||
| CSF | MS and NMO | Sens.: 22%; Spec.: 93%; PPV: 70%; NPV: 61% | Ichinose et al., 2015 | [53] | ||||||||
| ApoA1 (levels) | Serum/ plasma |
Diffuse | N/A | ρ = 0.21 | Lu et al., 2021 | [54] | ||||||
| ApoE (levels) | ρ = −0.21 | |||||||||||
| Free T3 (levels) | ρ = 0.19–0.32 | |||||||||||
| Free T4 (levels) | ρ = 0.28–0.42 | |||||||||||
| HDL-C (levels) | ρ = 0.05–0.08 | |||||||||||
| IGFBP7 (levels) | ρ = −0.22 | |||||||||||
| S100B (>0.0218 ng/mL) | Serum/ plasma |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | Sens.: 81%; Spec.: 67%; PPV: 84%; NPV: 62%; AUC: 0.74 | Noris-García et al., 2018 | [55] | ||||||
| IL-17 (↑) | CSF | Unspecified | MS and NMO | Sens.: 91%; Spec.: 90%; PPV: 88; NPV: 93 | Ichinose et al., 2015 | [53] | ||||||
| IL-2 (↑) | Sens.: 88%; Spec.: 93%; PPV: 90; NPV: 91 | |||||||||||
| IFN-γ (↑) | Sens.: 88%; Spec.: 98%; PPV: 97; NPV: 91 | |||||||||||
| IL-5 (↑) | Sens.: 88%; Spec.: 98%; PPV: 97; NPV: 91 | |||||||||||
| FGF2 (↑) | Sens.: 88%; Spec.: 95%; PPV: 93; NPV: 91 | |||||||||||
| IL-15 (↑) | Sens.: 94%; Spec.: 95%; PPV: 94; NPV: 95 | |||||||||||
| IL-8 (↑) | Sens.: 22%; Spec.: 93%; PPV: 70; NPV: 61 | |||||||||||
| Osteopontin (>963.4 ng/mL) | CSF | Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | Sens.: 70%; Spec.: 100%; AUC: 0.88 | Kitagori et al., 2019 | [21] | ||||||
| Lipocalin 2 (↑, ≥122 pg/mL; ≥126 pg/mL;) | CSF | Unspecified | HC/other neurological diseases | Sens.: 76–94%; Spec.: 80%; PPV: 63–84%; NPV: 88–92%; AUC: 0.80–0.85 | Mike et al., 2019 | [33] | ; Vanarsa et al., 2022 (in print) | [32] | ||||
| α-Klotho (≤230.2 pg/mL) | CSF | Unspecified | Non-NP SLE, MS, NMO and VM | Sens.: 82%; Spec.: 94%; AUC: 0.94; OR: 0.98 | Ushigusa et al., 2016 | [23] | ||||||
| Angiostatin (≥12 ng/mL) | CSF | Unspecified | HC/other neurological diseases | Sens.: 88%; Spec.: 44%; PPV: 45%; NPV: 88%; AUC: 0.65 | Vanarsa et al., 2022 (in print) | [32] | ||||||
| DAN (≥21,457 pg/mL) | Sens.: 76%; Spec.: 63%; PPV: 52%; NPV: 84%; AUC: 0.75 | |||||||||||
| Fibronectin (≥3539 pg/mL) | Sens.: 67%; Spec.: 85%; PPV: 70%; NPV: 83%; AUC: 0.81 | |||||||||||
| HCC-1 (≥3665 pg/mL) | Sens.: 52%; Spec.: 85%; PPV: 65%; NPV: 78%; AUC: 0.69 | |||||||||||
| M-CSF (≥41 pg/mL, ≥95 pg/mL) | Sens.: 47–80%; Spec.: 94–100%; PPV: 87–100%; NPV: 62–90%; AUC: 0.71–0.91 | |||||||||||
| SERPING1 (≥415 ng/mL) | Sens.: 71%; Spec.: 80%; PPV: 65%; NPV: 85%; AUC: 0.78 | |||||||||||
| IgM (≥1220 ng/mL, ≥5586 ng/mL) | Sens.: 70–100%; Spec.: 89–100%; PPV: 83–100%; NPV: 75–100%; AUC: 0.78–0.95 | |||||||||||
| IC-associated antigens | ||||||||||||
| Isoform 7 of nesprin-1 (+) | CSF (IC-associated) | Unspecified | HC | Sens.: 8%; Spec.: 100% | Aibara et al., 2018 | [39] | ||||||
| Suprabasin isoform 1 precursor (+) | Sens.: 35%; Spec.: 100% | |||||||||||
| Calmodulin-like protein 5 (+) | Sens.: 12%; Spec.: 92% | |||||||||||
| cDNA FLJ58075, highly similar to ceruloplasmin (+) | Sens.: 4%; Spec.: 96% | |||||||||||
| Desmoglein-1 (+) | Sens.: 15%; Spec.: 96% | |||||||||||
| INTS4-like protein 2 (+) | Sens.: 4%; Spec.: 96% | |||||||||||
| Isoform 1 of α1-antitrypsin (+) | Sens.: 8%; Spec.: 98% | |||||||||||
| Isoform 2 of NUMA1 (+) | Sens.: 4%; Spec.: 96% | |||||||||||
| Protein piccolo (+) | Sens.: 8%; Spec.: 98% | |||||||||||
| Isoform 3 ofRICTOR (+) | Sens.: 19%; Spec.: 100% | |||||||||||
| Genetic/epigenetic markers | ||||||||||||
| PD-1 (FC) | Serum/ plasma (gene expression) |
Diffuse | Non-psychosis SLE | ρ = 0.24 | Bassiouni et al., 2021 | [56] | ||||||
| TREX1 (relative frequencies) | Serum/ plasma (SNPs | § | ) | Unspecified; Focal | Non-NP SLE; HC; Non-neurological SLE | OR: 1.6–44.7 | Fredi et al., 2015 | [41] | ; Namjou et al., 2011 | [42] | ||
| TRPC6 (relative frequencies) | Serum/ plasma (SNP rs7925662) |
Unspecified | Non-NP SLE | HR: 0.4–3.3 | Ramirez et al., 2015 | [57] | ; Ramirez et al., 2018 | [58] | ||||
| miR-145 (FC > 0.0041; FC > 0.92; FC > 0.61) | Serum/ plasma (expression) |
Unspecified | HC; MS; NMO | Sens.: 60–80%; Spec.: 83–100%; PPV: 57–100%; NPV: 77–94%; AUC: 0.76–0.90 | Sharaf-Eldin et al., 2017 | [59] | ||||||
| miR-223 (FC > 0.925; FC > 0.325; FC > 0.61) | Sens.: 90%; Spec.: 87–100%; PPV: 75–100%; NPV: 90–97%; AUC: 0.91–0.99 | |||||||||||
| miR-326 (FC > 0.0037; FC > 0.505; FC > 0.61) | Sens.: 90%; Spec.: 78–90%; PPV: 64–90%; NPV: 90–97%; AUC: 0.82–0.90 | |||||||||||
| SMAD3 (FC > 0.052) | Serum/ plasma (gene expression) |
Unspecified | HC | Sens.: 70%; Spec.: 78%; PPV: 58%; NPV: 86%; AUC: 0.73 | Sharaf-Eldin et al., 2017 | [59] | ||||||
| SP1 (FC > 0.795) | MS | Sens.: 80%; Spec.: 76%; PPV: 47%; NPV: 93%; AUC: 0.82 | ||||||||||
| miR-23a (FC ≥ 0.1; FC ≥ 7.3) | Serum/ plasma (expression) |
Unspecified | HC; MS | Sens.: 90–100%; Spec.: 96–100%; AUC: 0.95–0.98 | Sharaf-Eldin et al., 2020 | [44] | ||||||
| miR-155 (FC ≥ 0.1; FC ≥ 7.3) | HC; NMO; MS | Sens.: 60–90%; Spec.: 88–90%; AUC: 0.76–0.92 | ||||||||||
| miR-572 (FC ≥ 4.5) | HC | Sens.: 90%; Spec.: 68%; AUC: 0.80 | ||||||||||