Int J Biol Sci 2022; 18(9):3731-3746. doi:10.7150/ijbs.67587 This issue
Review
1. Laboratory Microorganismes and Active Biomolecules, Sciences Faculty of Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
2. Department of Nephrology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Republic of Korea.
3. Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
4. Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
5. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
6. Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu/CIBERSAM, ISCIII, Universitat de Barcelona, Fundacio Sant Joan de Deu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
7. ICREA, Pg. Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona, Spain.
8. Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.
9. The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
YKL-40, a chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1) or human cartilage glycoprotein 39 (HC gp-39), is expressed and secreted by various cell-types including macrophages, chondrocytes, fibroblast-like synovial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells. Its biological function is not well elucidated, but it is speculated to have some connection with inflammatory reactions and autoimmune diseases. Although having important biological roles in autoimmunity, there were only attempts to elucidate relationships of YKL-40 with a single or couple of diseases in the literature. Therefore, in order to analyze the relationship between YKL-40 and the overall diseases, we reviewed 51 articles that discussed the association of YKL-40 with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Behçet disease and inflammatory bowel disease. Several studies showed that YKL-40 could be assumed as a marker for disease diagnosis, prognosis, disease activity and severity. It is also shown to be involved in response to disease treatment. However, other studies showed controversial results particularly in the case of Behçet disease activity. Therefore, further studies are needed to elucidate the exact role of YKL-40 in autoimmunity and to investigate its potential in therapeutics.
Keywords: YKL-40, Autoimmune disease, Pathogenesis, Diagnostic marker, Biomarker