Laboratory Microorganismes and Active Biomolecules, Sciences Faculty of Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
Department of Nephrology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Republic of Korea.
Int J Biol Sci. 2022 May 21;18(9):3731-3746. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.67587. eCollection 2022.
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.
YKL-40，一种几丁质酶 3 样蛋白 1（CHI3L1）或人软骨糖蛋白 39（HC gp-39），由多种细胞类型表达和分泌，包括巨噬细胞、软骨细胞、成纤维细胞样滑膜细胞和血管平滑肌细胞。其生物学功能尚未完全阐明，但据推测与炎症反应和自身免疫性疾病有关。虽然 YKL-40 在自身免疫中具有重要的生物学作用，但文献中仅尝试阐明 YKL-40 与单一或几种疾病的关系。因此，为了分析 YKL-40 与整体疾病的关系，我们回顾了 51 篇讨论 YKL-40 与类风湿关节炎、银屑病、系统性红斑狼疮、贝赫切特病和炎症性肠病之间关联的文章。几项研究表明，YKL-40 可作为疾病诊断、预后、疾病活动度和严重程度的标志物。它也被证明参与了对疾病治疗的反应。然而，其他研究显示出了有争议的结果，特别是在贝赫切特病活动度的情况下。因此，需要进一步的研究来阐明 YKL-40 在自身免疫中的确切作用，并研究其在治疗中的潜在作用。
