{"title":"Vitamin D receptor expression level in patients with SLE and its relationship with vitamin D status, disease course and bone mineral density.","authors":"Sergii Shevchuk, Tetiana Malovana, Liubov Marynych, Liudmyla Denyshchych","doi":"10.1136/lupus-2025-001730","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To determine vitamin D receptor (VDR) blood serum concentrations in patients with SLE and to assess the relationship with vitamin D status, disease course, bone turnover markers levels and bone mineral density (BMD).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The cross-sectional study involved 99 patients with SLE and 30 controls. We assessed VDR, vitamin D, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL) 6, osteocalcin (OC), C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) concentrations, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in study subjects. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was also performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Mean VDR levels in patients with SLE and in the control group were 12.78±0.61 ng/mL and 23.12±0.61 ng/mL, accordingly (p<0.01). 77.8% patients with SLE had low VDR concentrations and only 22.2% patients presented relatively normal or high levels. Low VDR levels in patients with SLE were associated with age (p=0.054, r=-0.22). The study did not reveal a relationship between VDR level and sex, disease duration, body mass index (BMI) and cumulative glucocorticoid (GC) dose. No association was found between VDR level and a diagnosed lupus nephritis, creatinine concentration and glomerular filtration rate. The correlation analysis confirmed the association of low VDR level with high disease activity, namely with elevated CRP (r=-0.22), IL-6 (r=-0.21) levels, SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 variant (r=-0.20). VDR concentration was closely associated with vitamin D supply. The average level of vitamin D in patients with low VDR was 33.55% lower than in the group with a relatively normal vitamin concentration (p=0.0001, r=0.47). We revealed a proportional increase of CTX concentration associated with VDR decrease (p<0.05, r=-0.27). No significant difference in average Z-score, T-score and BMD between the groups of patients with SLE with low and relatively normal VDR levels (p>0.05) was found.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Low VDR concentration is a common phenomenon in patients with SLE associated with age, high disease activity, vitamin D supply and serum CTX concentration. VDR concentration had no significant association with sex, disease duration, cumulative GC dose, BMI, a diagnosed lupus nephritis, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index, OC level and BMD.</p>","PeriodicalId":18126,"journal":{"name":"Lupus Science & Medicine","volume":"12 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12443211/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Lupus Science & Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2025-001730","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"RHEUMATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: To determine vitamin D receptor (VDR) blood serum concentrations in patients with SLE and to assess the relationship with vitamin D status, disease course, bone turnover markers levels and bone mineral density (BMD).
Methods: The cross-sectional study involved 99 patients with SLE and 30 controls. We assessed VDR, vitamin D, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL) 6, osteocalcin (OC), C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) concentrations, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in study subjects. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was also performed.
Results: Mean VDR levels in patients with SLE and in the control group were 12.78±0.61 ng/mL and 23.12±0.61 ng/mL, accordingly (p<0.01). 77.8% patients with SLE had low VDR concentrations and only 22.2% patients presented relatively normal or high levels. Low VDR levels in patients with SLE were associated with age (p=0.054, r=-0.22). The study did not reveal a relationship between VDR level and sex, disease duration, body mass index (BMI) and cumulative glucocorticoid (GC) dose. No association was found between VDR level and a diagnosed lupus nephritis, creatinine concentration and glomerular filtration rate. The correlation analysis confirmed the association of low VDR level with high disease activity, namely with elevated CRP (r=-0.22), IL-6 (r=-0.21) levels, SLE Disease Activity Index 2000 variant (r=-0.20). VDR concentration was closely associated with vitamin D supply. The average level of vitamin D in patients with low VDR was 33.55% lower than in the group with a relatively normal vitamin concentration (p=0.0001, r=0.47). We revealed a proportional increase of CTX concentration associated with VDR decrease (p<0.05, r=-0.27). No significant difference in average Z-score, T-score and BMD between the groups of patients with SLE with low and relatively normal VDR levels (p>0.05) was found.
Conclusion: Low VDR concentration is a common phenomenon in patients with SLE associated with age, high disease activity, vitamin D supply and serum CTX concentration. VDR concentration had no significant association with sex, disease duration, cumulative GC dose, BMI, a diagnosed lupus nephritis, Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology Damage Index, OC level and BMD.
期刊介绍:
Lupus Science & Medicine is a global, peer reviewed, open access online journal that provides a central point for publication of basic, clinical, translational, and epidemiological studies of all aspects of lupus and related diseases. It is the first lupus-specific open access journal in the world and was developed in response to the need for a barrier-free forum for publication of groundbreaking studies in lupus. The journal publishes research on lupus from fields including, but not limited to: rheumatology, dermatology, nephrology, immunology, pediatrics, cardiology, hepatology, pulmonology, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry.