Table 5.

Predictivity of cytokines and chemokines in SLE flares

Cytokines or chemokines	Number of patients (n)	Findings	Study
BAFF/BLyS	42	Changes in BAFF levels were unrelated to disease flares	Becker-Merok et al., 2006 [47]
BAFF/BLyS	245	Increase in BLyS level was associated with the occurrence of mild-to-moderate flares	Petri et al., 2008 [48]
BAFF/BLyS	562	Baseline BLyS level independently predicted flare	Petri et al., 2013 [9]
BLyS, APRIL and 50 analytes: innate and adaptive cytokines, chemokines and soluble TNFR superfamily members	28	Patients with impending flare had significant alterations in the levels of 27 soluble mediators at baseline	Munroe et al., 2014 [52]
CCL2 (MCP-1), CCL19 (MIP-3B), CXCL10 (IP-10)	267	Patients with high baseline chemokine levels were at increased risk for flares	Bauer et al., 2009 [49]
CXCL2, CXCL10	25	High CXCL10 and CXCL2 were predictive of increased disease activity	Andrade et al., 2012 [50]
IL-2R	26	Activation of T cells occurs prior to clinical disease activity	Spronk et al., 1996 [56]
sIL-2R	NA	Levels of sIL-2R rose significantly up to the moment of maximal disease activity	Spronk et al., 1994 [57]
sCD25	3	Levels of sCD25 increased preceding periods of exacerbations	Swaak et al., 1995 [55]
IFN-α, IFN-γ-inducible protein 1 and sialic acid-binding Ig-like lectin 1	79	None of the investigated biomarkers was a predictive variable for flares	Rose et al., 2013 [51]
Soluble IL-7 receptor (sIL-7R)	105	High sIL-7R levels associated with renal flares	Lauwerys et al., 2014 [53]
IL1-RA, TNFRI	41	Patients who flared had higher baseline plasma levels of IL-1RA and TNFRI	Guthridge et al., 2014 [54]

APRIL a proliferation-inducing ligand, BAFF B-cell activating factor, BLyS B-lymphocyte stimulator, CCL chemokine ligand, CXCL chemokine (C–X–C motif) ligand, s soluble, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus, TNFR tumour necrosis factor receptor type