Background/Purpose: There is an unmet need for tools to quantify local disease activity in TAK.

Methods: Sera of 21 TAK patients, aged between 18 and 56 years and fulfilling the 1990 ACR criteria, were analyzed and compared with age/sex-matched controls (CTRL). Serum levels of 45 biomarkers were quantified using luminex technology. Vasculitis activity was scored in MR-angiography of 15 patients, which had MRA performed within 4 month to serum collection, from 0 (normal) to 3 (intense late enhancement). Disease activity was defined by the NIH criteria (1994).

Results: 4/21 patients showed active disease according to NIH criteria, and MRA signals of 10/15 TAK patients indicated vessel wall inflammation. Most serological molecules did not differ between the TAK cohort and the CTRL or remained undetectable in both cohorts. However, MMP-3 (p=0.007), sIL-6R (p=0.010), IL-11 (p=0.021) and APRIL (p=0.001) were elevated in the 22 TAK patients compared to CTRL. BAFF (p=0.035) and IFNa (p=0.025) directly correlated with MR-vasculitis activity, whereas YKL-40 (AUC=0.897), sILR2 (AUC=0.971) and CD163 (AUC=1) were associated with clinical disease activity. MRA signal intensity did not correlate with clinical disease activity (p=0.51).

Conclusion: Our data suggest that YKL-40, sILR2 and CD163 on one side and BAFF and IFNa on the other side may serve as biological mirrors of clinical disease activity and vessel wall inflammation, respectively. The clinical utility of these markers will have to be assessed in a prospective setting.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/immuno-inflammatory-markers-and-mr-angiographic-imaging-to-detect-disease-activity-in-takayasu-arteritis/