Correlation of Increased Blood Levels of GITR and GITRL with Disease Severity in Patients with Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome

Table 2

Comparison of serum GITRL and sGITR levels between pSS patients with normal or abnormal laboratory values.

Parameter	GITRL (ng/mL)			sGITR (ng/mL)
	Normal	Abnormal	P value	Normal	Abnormal	P value
	Mean ± SD; (𝑛)	Mean ± SD; (𝑛)		Mean ± SD; (𝑛)	Mean ± SD; (𝑛)
A—SSA	3.23±3.63; (7)	6.76±7.52; (34)	0.1362	3.91±2.14; (7)	6.01±3.71; (34)	0.1657
A—SSB	6.41±7.38; (22)	5.95±7.03; (19)	0.5830	5.71±3.57; (22)	5.60±3.63; (19)	0.8857
ANA	1.22±0.42; (5)	6.85±7.32; (36)	**0.0050	2.51±0.83; (5)	6.09±3.58; (36)	*0.0114
CRP	4.41±4.75; (25)	15.87±8.76; (16)	**0.0078	4.76±3.30; (25)	7.05±3.60; (16)	*0.0231
RF	2.47±1.72; (17)	8.98±8.64; (24)	**0.0050	3.85±1.85; (17)	6.93±3.95; (24)	**0.0075
IgM	5.01±6.30; (33)	10.48±8.96; (8)	*0.0431	5.31±3.39; (33)	7.08±4.13; (8)	0.2428
IgA	2.34±1.94; (13)	7.93±7.92; (28)	**0.0069	3.87±2.14; (13)	6.48±3.81; (28)	*0.0381
WBC	3.29±2.96; (21)	9.18±8.91; (20)	*0.0158	4.10±2.18; (21)	7.28±4.03; (20)	*0.0110

𝑃<0.05 means significant difference (^∗𝑃<0.05; ^∗∗𝑃<0.01).
Laboratory values such as A-SSA, A-SSB, ANA, and RF positive were defined as abnormal, while laboratory parameters such as CRP, IgM, and IgA above limit values were defined as abnormal. In addition, WBC abnormal means leukopenia.
A-SSA: anti-Ro/SSA antibody; A-SSB: anti-La/SSB antibody; ANA: antinuclear antibody; CRP: C-reactive protein; RF: rheumatoid factor; IgM: immunoglobulin M; IgA: immunoglobulin A; WBC: white blood count.