Hallie A. Carol, Adam S. Mayer, Michael S. Zhang, Vinh Dang, Jemy Varghese, Zachary Martinez, Corinne Schneider, Joy (Elizabeth) Baker, Paul Tsoukas, Edward M. Behrens, Randy Q. Cron, Caroline Diorio, Lauren A. Henderson, Grant Schulert, Pui Lee, Kate F. Kernan, Scott W. Canna
{"title":"Hyperferritinemia Screening to Aid Identification and Differentiation of Patients with Hyperinflammatory Disorders","authors":"Hallie A. Carol, Adam S. Mayer, Michael S. Zhang, Vinh Dang, Jemy Varghese, Zachary Martinez, Corinne Schneider, Joy (Elizabeth) Baker, Paul Tsoukas, Edward M. Behrens, Randy Q. Cron, Caroline Diorio, Lauren A. Henderson, Grant Schulert, Pui Lee, Kate F. Kernan, Scott W. Canna","doi":"10.1007/s10875-024-01797-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>High ferritin is an important and sensitive biomarker for the various forms of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a diverse and deadly group of cytokine storm syndromes. Early action to prevent immunopathology in HLH often includes empiric immunomodulation, which can complicate etiologic work-up and prevent collection of early/pre-treatment research samples. To address this, we instituted an alert system at UPMC Children’s Hospital where serum ferritin > 1000 ng/mL triggered real-time chart review, assessment of whether the value reflected “inflammatory hyperferritnemia (IHF)”, and biobanking of remnant samples from consenting IHF patients. We extracted relevant clinical data; periodically measured serum total IL-18, IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), and CXCL9; retrospectively classified patients by etiology into infectious, rheumatic, or immune dysregulation; and subjected a subgroup of samples to a 96-analyte biomarker screen. 180 patients were identified, 30.5% of which had IHF. Maximum ferritin levels were significantly higher in patients with IHF than with either hemoglobinopathy or transplant, and highly elevated total IL-18 levels were distinctive to patients with Stills Disease and/or Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS). Multi-analyte analysis showed elevation in proteins associated with cytotoxic lymphocytes in all IHF samples when compared to healthy controls and depression of proteins such as ANGPT1 and VEGFR2 in samples from hyperferritinemic sepsis patients relative to non-sepsis controls. This real-time IFH screen proved feasible and efficient, validated prior observations about the specificity of IL-18, enabled early sample collection from a complex population, suggested a unique vascular biomarker signature in hyperferritinemic sepsis, and expanded our understanding of IHF heterogeneity.</p>","PeriodicalId":15531,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Immunology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Clinical Immunology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-024-01797-4","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"IMMUNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
High ferritin is an important and sensitive biomarker for the various forms of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a diverse and deadly group of cytokine storm syndromes. Early action to prevent immunopathology in HLH often includes empiric immunomodulation, which can complicate etiologic work-up and prevent collection of early/pre-treatment research samples. To address this, we instituted an alert system at UPMC Children’s Hospital where serum ferritin > 1000 ng/mL triggered real-time chart review, assessment of whether the value reflected “inflammatory hyperferritnemia (IHF)”, and biobanking of remnant samples from consenting IHF patients. We extracted relevant clinical data; periodically measured serum total IL-18, IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), and CXCL9; retrospectively classified patients by etiology into infectious, rheumatic, or immune dysregulation; and subjected a subgroup of samples to a 96-analyte biomarker screen. 180 patients were identified, 30.5% of which had IHF. Maximum ferritin levels were significantly higher in patients with IHF than with either hemoglobinopathy or transplant, and highly elevated total IL-18 levels were distinctive to patients with Stills Disease and/or Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS). Multi-analyte analysis showed elevation in proteins associated with cytotoxic lymphocytes in all IHF samples when compared to healthy controls and depression of proteins such as ANGPT1 and VEGFR2 in samples from hyperferritinemic sepsis patients relative to non-sepsis controls. This real-time IFH screen proved feasible and efficient, validated prior observations about the specificity of IL-18, enabled early sample collection from a complex population, suggested a unique vascular biomarker signature in hyperferritinemic sepsis, and expanded our understanding of IHF heterogeneity.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Clinical Immunology publishes impactful papers in the realm of human immunology, delving into the diagnosis, pathogenesis, prognosis, or treatment of human diseases. The journal places particular emphasis on primary immunodeficiencies and related diseases, encompassing inborn errors of immunity in a broad sense, their underlying genotypes, and diverse phenotypes. These phenotypes include infection, malignancy, allergy, auto-inflammation, and autoimmunity. We welcome a broad spectrum of studies in this domain, spanning genetic discovery, clinical description, immunologic assessment, diagnostic approaches, prognosis evaluation, and treatment interventions. Case reports are considered if they are genuinely original and accompanied by a concise review of the relevant medical literature, illustrating how the novel case study advances the field. The instructions to authors provide detailed guidance on the four categories of papers accepted by the journal.