Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Many studies have demonstrated elevated circulating levels of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and decreased circulating levels of soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) in patients with autoimmune diseases. In the present study, we investigated plasma levels of both HMGB1 and sRAGE in primary antiphospholipid syndrome (pAPS) patients. METHODS: We prospectively recruited 11 pAPS patients, 17 antiphospholipid antibody (APA)-positive SLE patients without APS manifestations (APA+SLE) and 12 SLE patients with secondary APS (APS+SLE). We also recruited 10 healthy controls (HCs). Plasma levels of HMGB1 and sRAGE were determined using sandwich ELISA kits. In addition, plasma levels of HMGB1 were also determined using Western blot in 6 pAPS patients and 6 HCs. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in plasma levels of HMGB1 measured by ELISA among subgroups of the enrolled subjects. In addition, there was no significant difference in plasma levels of HMGB1 measured by Western blot between pAPS patients and HCs. On the other hand, we observed a trend toward lower plasma levels of sRAGE in APA+SLE or APS+SLE patients when compared with HCs. However, there was no significant difference in plasma levels of sRAGE between pAPS patients and HCs, or between APA+SLE patients and APS+SLE patients. CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in plasma levels of sRAGE or HMGB1 between pAPS patients and HCs. Plasma levels of sRAGE/HMGB1 could not be utilized to differentiate between APA+SLE and APS+SLE patients.