Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by abnormal production of autoantibodies and proinflammatory cytokines. Although interleukin-33 (IL-33), a novel number of the IL-1 family, has been reported to have proinflammatory effects, the association of IL-33 with SLE has remained unknown. The aim of this study was to examine whether the serum IL-33 level is associated with SLE. A total of 70 patients with SLE were recruited. Sera from these patients were obtained at their visit and were compared to sera from 40 healthy controls or 28 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for IL-33 level. Furthermore, blood samples from patients with SLE were determined for various SLE-related laboratory variables, including blood routine, complements, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) and some autoantibodies. Serum IL-33 level was significantly increased in patients with SLE, compared with healthy controls, but was lower than that with RA. In patients with SLE, most clinical and laboratory characteristics did not correlate with serum IL-33 levels, with exceptions of thrombocytopenia, erythrocytopenia, anti-SSB antibody, ESR, CRP and IgA. By Spearman's correlation coefficient, patients with SLE showed close correlation of IL-33 with ESR, CRP and IgA, and by multivariate logistic regressions, patients with SLE showed significantly independent association of IL-33 with thrombocytopenia, erythrocytopenia and anti-SSB antibody. Our results suggest that IL-33 may play a role in acute phase of SLE, but it was not associated with course of the disease. Moreover, IL-33 may exert biologic effects on erythrocytes and platelets or their precursors in SLE.

Mechanisms of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remain elusive, in which obesity (OB) is considered as one of the major risk factors for the disease. A microRNA (miRNA) is a small non-coding RNA molecule functioning in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. It has been demonstrated that some miRNAs can exist in serum stably and is closely related to various diseases. The goal of our study was to identify whether the deregulation of serum miRNAs was associated with T2DM and obesity. Twenty-five subjects with T2DM2, 25 healthy controls, 25 subjects with obesity, and 25 subjects with T2DM combined with obesity were included in the study. A total of 536 miRNA serum samples from these four groups were studied by miRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panels. Data showed that miR-152 and miR-17 were significantly elevated in the OB group, whereas miR-138 was significantly decreased in OB group when compared to controls, T2DM, or T2DM+obesity group. In addition, level of MiR-593 was significantly lower in T2DM group and T2DM+obesity group when compared with controls. Further analysis revealed that the four miRNAs can be used as potential biomarkers to distinguish obesity from T2DM, OB+T2DM, and healthy subjects. Our study is one of the pioneer studies showing the differences in peripheral miRNA level in obesity, T2DM and T2DM combined with obesity. The study results suggest the potential utility of miRNAs in the prediction for obesity and T2DM.

The aim of this study was to investigate the serum bilirubin levels in SLE patients and their associations with clinical and laboratory characteristics of SLE. There were 198 SLE patients in this study, of whom 7 cases with tobacco smoking or alcohol intake were excluded. Some clinical and laboratory characteristics of the patients were obtained by medical record review. In addition, 154 age- and sex- matched healthy volunteers with no histories of SLE, liver diseases, and other autoimmune or inflammatory diseases were randomly recruited into this study. The serum bilirubin levels were lower in SLE patients without liver diseases than in healthy controls (P = 0.000). Univariate logistic analysis demonstrated that hypertension, lupus renal involvement, positive anti-dsDNA antibody, C3, C4, hsCRP, and albumin remained as impact factors of total bilirubins; lupus renal involvement, ESR, IgG, globulin, and ALT, as impact factors of direct bilirubins; and lupus renal involvement, positive anti-dsDNA antibody, C3, C4, hsCRP, and albumin, as impact factors of indirect bilirubins. However, multivariate logistic analysis showed that only hsCRP remained as an independent positive impact factor of total bilirubins, lupus renal involvement as an independent negative impact factor of direct bilirubins, and hsCRP and albumin as independent positive impact factors of indirect bilirubins. In conclusion, serum bilirubin levels are decreased in SLE and the decreased bilirubin levels could be associated with inflammatory process and lupus renal involvement of SLE.

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