Identification of circulating immune response-related biomarkers in patients with ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis

This study aimed to investigate the profiles of immune response-related proteins in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated glomerulonephritis (ANCA-GN) and identify potential biomarkers for this disease. Plasma was collected from patients with ANCA-GN and healthy controls (HCs). Immune-related proteins were measured using the Immune Response Panel 80-Plex. Differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were used to differentiate patients with ANCA-GN from HCs via ROC analysis. The prediction performance of the potential biomarkers was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC). Detection results for the immune response-related proteins showed 54 DEPs between ANCA-GN patients and HCs. KEGG enrichment analysis of these 54 DEPs revealed that were mainly enriched in chemokine signaling pathway, IL17 signaling pathway, and JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Among the top 14 core proteins in the protein-protein interaction network, 8 were closely related to renal function, namely IL1A, IFNG, CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, IL4, IL5, and CCL11. The performance of the potential biomarkers for discriminate ANCA-GN was as follows: CCL11, AUC: 0.998; IL4, AUC: 0.950; CXCL9, AUC: 0.917; CXCL10, AUC: 0.887; CXCL11, AUC: 0.807; and IFNG, AUC: 0.821 (all P < 0.001). Distinct immune-related protein profiles were identified in ANCA-GN, and present study revealed that CCL11, IL4, CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, and IFNG could act as potential biomarkers for this disease. In addition, these circulating immune mediators are closely associated with renal function.