Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of the study subjects
| Characteristic | SLE patients | Healthy donors | P |
| Participants (n) | 108 | 46 | - |
| Age (years) | 32.52 ± 11.97 | 32.5 ± 14.32 | 0.83 |
| Sex (n; female/male) | 96/12 | 40/6 | 0.62 |
| Onset age (years) | 27.14 ± 10.0 | NA | - |
| Disease duration (years) | 5.4 ± 4.13 | NA | - |
| SLEDAI-2K score (mean [range]) | 6 (3 to 8) | NA | - |
| Mean ESR (mm/hour) | 61.58 ± 24.03 | NA | - |
| Medical therapy (n) | |||
| Prednisone >60 mg/day | 11 | NA | - |
| Prednisone 30 to 60 mg/day | 44 | NA | - |
| Prednisone 0 mg/day | 6 | NA | - |
| CTX | 35 | NA | - |
| FIT4 relative expression | 37.84 ± 3.52 | 10.58 ± 2.64 | 0.00 |
All patients were of Chinese ethnicity. Unless stated otherwise, values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. CTX, cyclophosphamide; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; IFIT4, interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats 4; NA, not applicable; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SLEDAI-2K, SLE Disease Activity Index 2,000.