Clinical significance of serum levels of 14-3-3β protein in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the clinical relevance of serum tyrosine3-monooxygenase/tryptophan5-monooxygenase activation protein β (14-3-3β) in stable COPD patients. The expression of serum 14-3-3β protein was evaluated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The association between its concentrations and clinical parameters of stable COPD patients were analyzed by correlation analysis and ROC curve. The results before propensity score matching (PSM) showed that serum 14-3-3β protein concentrations (ng/ml) in stable COPD patients were significantly higher than in healthy controls (P<0.001). Furthermore, serum 14-3-3β protein concentrations were higher in GOLD 3&4 COPD patients compared with healthy participants, GOLD 1 and GOLD 2 COPD patients (P<0.05). After 1:1 PSM, there was also a statistically significant rise in 14-3-3 protein levels in stable COPD patients compared to healthy controls (P<0.01). Serum 14-3-3β protein levels were positively correlated with blood neutrophil levels (P<0.05), and negatively related to lung function parameters in stable COPD patients (P<0.01). When the cutoff value was set at 29.53ng/ml, the ROC curve yielded a sensitivity of 84.9% and a specificity of 68.3% for diagnosing stable COPD. The 14-3-3β protein may be a potential serum biomarker that was associated with disease severity, systemic inflammation, and small airway obstruction in stable COPD patients.