Serum KL-6 as a biomarker to predict progression at one year in interstitial lung disease
Bonella, Francesco (Ruhrlandklinik University Hospital)
D'Alessandro, M. (University of Siena (Itàlia))
Molina-Molina, M. (Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge)
Bargagli, E. (University of Siena (Itàlia))
Vegas Sanchez, M. C. (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Millan-Billi, P. (Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona, Catalunya))
Santos, R. F. (University of Porto)
Schröder, N. (University of Duisburg-Essen (Alemanya))
Bastos, H. N. (University of Porto)
Pernaute, O. Sánchez (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
Castillo Villegas, Diego Miguel (Institut de Recerca Sant Pau)
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Medicina

Date:	2025
Abstract:	About one third of non-IPF ILD patients progresses over time. Serum KL-6, a lung epithelial mucin type 1, is an established marker to assess disease severity in ILD but its ability to predict progression needs to be further explored. To investigate whether serum KL-6 is of additional value to stratify the patients for the risk of developing clinical or functional progression at one year. ILD patients from 6 European centers were retrospectively enrolled. Disease progression was defined as relative decline ⩾10% in FVC or ⩾15% in DLco from baseline. Serum KL-6 was measured using a full-automated chemiluminescent immunoassay (Fujirebio). Comparative logistic regression was used to identify predictors of progression at one year. 303 patients were included. 37% developed progression after one year from KL-6 measurement. A stepwise selection was used to identify and include five predictors of progression in a risk score: age, gender, BMI, FVC, and KL-6. The final model was superior to KL-6 alone to predict progression at one year, with 55% sensitivity, 73% specificity and 67% accuracy at a cut-off of 5. Patients were stratified in low and high risk of progression at one year based on the cut-off of 5, with a similar accuracy for IIP 0. 687 and CTD-ILD 0. 720 but not for HP. Serum KL-6 levels, included in a risk score with other clinical and functional variables, may help to better stratify patients for the risk of disease progression at one year, compared to any individual predictor.
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Progressive phenotype ; ILD ; Serum KL-6 ; Biomarker ; Predictive markers ; Prognostic markers ; Risk factors
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 15 (October 2025) , art. 35243, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-22483-4
PMID: 41068354

10 p, 2.3 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Health sciences and biosciences > Institut de Recerca Sant Pau
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles