Is there a new biomarker for autoimmune disease activity?

Autoimmune diseases are notorious for their lengthy diagnostic process. Patients often suffer for years without a diagnosis or are misdiagnosed, leading to delays in proper treatment. One of the difficulties in obtaining a diagnosis is the lack of accurate biomarkers that can reliably detect autoimmune diseases. Moreover, traditional autoimmune blood tests do not always correlate with patients' disease activity or flares.

Recently, researchers have been searching for a new biomarker that can lead to early detection and treatment of autoimmune conditions.

One meta study looked at the systemic inflammation index (SII), which is determined by a patient's routine white blood cell panel: SII = (neutrophil count × platelet count) / lymphocyte count. Researchers had previously examined SII in cancer patients and patients with COVID-19, but this time they focused on patients with immunological disorders.

The study analyzed a total of 16 studies, with 2,346 healthy controls and 2,893 patients with diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, ulcerative colitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and more. Results showed that SII was significantly higher in patients with autoimmune diseases compared to healthy controls. Moreover, patients with active disease activity showed higher SII than those without. This is a promising result as SII may help physicians with their existing approach to diagnosing and managing autoimmune diseases.

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