In the present study, we measured serum BAFF level and explored its clinical implication in patients with anti-MDA5+DM. We found that serum BAFF levels were significantly increased in anti-MDA5+DM patients compared with those in ASS patients and HC. Moreover, serum BAFF level was associated with disease severity of ILD, and BAFF levels > 2971.5 pg/mL was an independent risk factor for RP-ILD in anti-MDA5+DM patient. These findings indicated that BAFF participates in the pathological process of ILD and might serve as a biomarker for RP-ILD risk prediction in anti-MDA5+DM patients.
Previous studies have revealed that serum BAFF level was elevated in DM, and associated with the prevalence of ILD [15, 16]. The major finding of current study is that serum BAFF level was significant positive correlation with RP-ILD in anti-MDA5+DM. These findings have at least 2 important clinical implications.
First, our present results suggest that serum BAFF had certain predictive value for RP-ILD and poor prognosis in patients with anti-MDA5+DM. As a life-threatening complication of anti-MDA5+DM, early recognition and early treatment of RP-ILD is the key to improve prognosis. Although several serum risk factors, including anti-MDA5 antibody titer, CRP, LDH, and SF [17–19], are thought to be associated with the development of ILD in MDA5+ patients, however, they are not a good predictor of the occurrence of RP-ILD. In current study, with a cut-off value of 2971.5 pg/ml of serum BAFF can help distinguish RP-ILD patients from anti-MDA5+DM patients (Fig. 3). Multivariate regression further suggested that BAFF was an independent risk factor for RP-ILD in anti-MDA5+DM.
Second, our finding of an association of RP-ILD with elevated serum imply BAFF-blocking therapy could be an attractive novel treatment for anti-MDA5+DM patients, especially patients with a tendency toward RP-ILD. Elevated CD19+ B cells have been found in anti-MDA5+DM patients compared with ASS, and are associated with poor outcomes [20]. As a salvage therapy strategy, Rituximab is usually selected for the treatment of RP-ILD with a resistance to conventional therapy or with a life-threatening condition [21]. However, the uncertain efficacy and high risk of infection limits the widespread adoption of B-cell depletion in clinical practice.
BAFF plays an important role in the activation and homeostasis of B cell. The increased serum BAFF level is significantly correlated with disease-specific antibodies level in some autoimmune diseases, such as anti-SSA in SS, anti-dsDNA in SLE, anti-histone in SSc [22–25] and anti-Jo1 in IIM [26–28]. It is thought that BAFF may contribute to the development of RP-ILD in anti-MDA5+DM by promoting the survival and activation of autoreactive B cells, and then enhance the production of a variety of autoantibodies, including anti-MDA5 autoantibodies. Besides, BAFF contributes to progression of ILD by impairing apoptosis of naive B cells via BAFF receptor [29]. Additionally, BAFF also promotes pulmonary interstitial fibrosis by acting as a potent inducer of TIMP-1, α-SMA, CCL2, and IL-6 [30]. Therefore, more research is needed to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of BAFF inhibition in the treatment of anti-MDA5+DM associated RP-ILD.
We also found that BAFF levels were correlated positively with the serum level of CRP, CK and LDH in anti-MDA5+DM patients. We previously reported elevated serum CRP and LDH levels represented the high inflammation condition in anti-MDA5+ DM patients and linked to RP-ILD and poor outcomes [31]. Consistent with these findings, the current data indicate that excessive BAFF level is involved in the inflammatory response or autoimmune reaction in anti-MDA5+DM patients. Combined serum BAFF levels with other serum markers including CRP and LDH may reflect severity of lung injury and can help early identify RP-ILD patients in anti-MDA5+DM patients.
This study had several limitations. Due to the low incidence of MDA5, we included a limited number of cases in this study. Besides, lung function tests were not performed in all patients and there was a lack of correlation between BAFF levels and FVC or DLCO values, which have been reported as risk factors for RP-ILD combined with anti-MDA5+DM [32]. In addition, we did not obtain the dynamic change of BAFF level with treatment response and the number of effector B cells at the matched time point. These results are need to further validation in a large and prospective cohort.