Soluble HLA-E and Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Novel Association‎

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a prevalent clinical condition that affects millions ‎of individuals worldwide.‎.

To assess the level of soluble HLA-E (sHLA-E) as a biomarker in the diagnosis and ‎immunopathogenesis of GERD patients.‎.

The case-control prospective study included 40 GERD patients who were consulted at the ‎Gastroenterology Unit of Al-Kindy Teaching Hospital, as along with 40 healthy control ‎subjects. The study period extended from January 2023 to May 2024. Blood was drawn from ‎both groups and serum was separated to assesss HLA-E using a sandwich enzyme-linked ‎immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit.‎.

There was a statistically significant difference in sHLA-E levels between GERD patients and ‎healthy controls (p = 0.021). The median sHLA-E level was significantly higher in GERD ‎patients (0.370 ng/mL) compared to controls (0.148 ng/mL). A receiver operating characteristic ‎‎(ROC) curve was generated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of soluble HLA-E (sHLA-E) ‎in predicting GERD. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated to assess the ‎discriminatory ability of sHLA-E, with a value of 0.649 (95% CI: 0.534-0.752, p = 0.021). The ‎optimal cutoff value for sHLA-E was determined to be ≤0.65 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of ‎‎85.1%, specificity of 27.3%, positive predictive value of 65.9%, negative predictive value of ‎‎69.4%, and accuracy of 35.0%.‎.

The study provides evidence of an association between elevated sHLA-E levels and GERD. It ‎also suggests that sHLA-E has a moderate discriminatory ability as a biomarker in predicting ‎GERD.‎.