To investigate serum levels of endostatin in a well characterised cohort of patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and healthy controls (HC) and assess associations between these mediators and clinical parameters.
All patients (n=144) were recruited from the Norwegian systemic connective tissue disease and vasculitis registry (NOSVAR) and fulfilled American-European classification criteria for pSS. Pulmonary involvement was based on clinical symptoms and abnormal findings on high-resolution computed tomography of the lungs. The controls were 100 healthy blood donors. Serum levels of endostatin was determined by enzyme immunoassay.
We found higher mean levels of serum endostatin in patients with pSS compared with the controls (p<0.001). The patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) had higher levels compared with those without pulmonary involvement.
Our results indicate that endostatin is increased in patients with pSS and particularly in those with ILD.