A potential new marker in behcet's disease

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Behçet's Disease (BD) is an autoimmüne disorder characterized by various systemic symptoms, including neurological and vascular involvement, as well as life-threatening complications. Its pathogenesis is still not fully understood, necessitating new biomarkers for defining and monitoring disease activity alongside clinical findings. Meteorin-like (Metrnl), a newly discovered adipokine, may be associated with autoimmüne and inflammatory diseases. This study aims to determine serum levels of Metrnl in patients with Behçet's disease and to evaluate the relationship between Metrnl and disease activity in BD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted with 40 Behçet patients who presented to the outpatient clinics of the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation and the Department of Rheumatology at Sakarya University Medical Faculty between April 13, 2023, and October 1, 2023, along with 30 healthy individuals matched for age and gender. The diagnosis of BD was made according to the 2014 ICBD criteria. Serum Metrnl levels were measured using Western Blot analysis and analyzed using Image Lab (Version 6.0.1 build 34) software. Statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20, with differences between groups determined using analysis of variance (ANOVA and post-Hoc tests) (p<0.05 was considered statistically significant). RESULTS: The study found no statistically significant difference in Metrnl protein expression between the control and active BD groups. However, it was determined that Metrnl expression in the passive BD group was significantly lower compared to the control and active BD groups (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: As a result of the data obtained, this study presents for the first time in the literature that Metrnl protein levels can be used to indicate disease activity in BD. Differences in Metrnl levels between active and passive BD groups provide important insights into the disease's activity. These results suggest that Metrnl could be evaluated as a potential biomarker for monitoring the clinical course of BD, highlighting the need for further research on this marker.