Serum Semaphorin 3a Levels in Patients With Behçet's Disease With and Without Vascular Involvement

Abstract

Aim Semaphorin 3A is a molecule with identified effects on vasculopathy, angiogenesis, the nervous system, bone homeostasis, and autoimmunity. Its role has been demonstrated in autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. In the pathogenesis of Beh & ccedil;et's disease, autoinflammation and vasculopathy play significant roles. While some Beh & ccedil;et's disease patients present with vasculopathy, no biomarker has yet been identified to predict which patients will develop vasculopathy. Our study aims to determine serum semaphorin 3A levels in Beh & ccedil;et's disease patients and establish its potential role as a biomarker for diagnosis, disease activity, and vasculopathy. Methods Our study included 97 Beh & ccedil;et's disease patients who were followed up in the last 6 months at the Ankara City Hospital Rheumatology Clinic and 48 healthy volunteers who accepted to be included in the study. The patient group was initially divided into two categories: vascular and non-vascular. The vascular group included 46 patients with deep vein thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, or pulmonary arterial aneurysm, while the non-vascular group consisted of 51 Beh & ccedil;et's disease patients without any thromboembolic events or other vascular involvement associated with Beh & ccedil;et's disease.The control group included 48 healthy volunteers without any systemic diseases, malignancies, autoimmune or autoinflammatory diseases, or a history of active or past thromboembolic disease, and who did not smoke or use any medication. The serum semaphorin 3A levels of the patients and healthy volunteers participating in the study were measured using the ELISA method and were statistically evaluated through comparative analysis. Results The mean age of Beh & ccedil;et's patients and the control group was similar 42.95 +/- 10.96 vs. 40.64 +/- 10.06 years. The average serum semaphorin 3A level of all Beh & ccedil;et's patients was found to be 46.76 (11.15) ng/mL, while the average semaphorin 3A level in the control group was determined to be 60 (23.79) ng/mL. The serum semaphorin 3A level of Beh & ccedil;et's patients was found to be statistically significantly lower compared to the control group (p < 0.001). The average serum semaphorin 3A level in the vascular group was determined to be 43.96 (7.52) ng/mL, whereas the serum semaphorin 3A level in non-vascular Beh & ccedil;et's patients was 49.28 (13.20) ng/mL. The serum semaphorin 3A level of vascular Beh & ccedil;et's patients was found to be statistically significantly lower compared to non-vascular Beh & ccedil;et's patients (p = 0.016). The semaphorin 3A levels of both groups were found to be statistically significantly lower compared to the control group (vascular/control p < 0.001; non-vascular/control p = 0.006). Conclusions Serum semaphorin 3A levels were significantly decreased in both vascular and non-vascular Beh & ccedil;et's groups compared to controls. This is the first study in Beh & ccedil;et's patients to suggest semaphorin 3A as a potential biomarker of inflammation and vascular involvement.