RESEARCH ARTICLE


Diagnostic Value of Procalcitonin in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis (AAV) to Differentiate Between Disease Activity, Infection and Drug Hypersensitivity



K Herrmann*, 1, 2, S Schinke 2, E Csernok2, F Moosig2, J.U Holle2
1 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine III, University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus at the TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
2 Department of Rheumatology, Klinikum Bad Bramstedt, Germany


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Creative Commons License
© Herrmann et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine III, University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus at the TU Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany; Tel: +49-35145819377; Fax: +49-3514585801; E-mail: kristine.herrmann@uniklinikum-dresden.de


Abstract

Objective:

Procalcitonin (PCT) is considered to be a specific marker for severe bacterial infections and sepsis. Elevated PCT levels have been reported in active autoimmune diseases without infection.

The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of PCT serum levels in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients with respect to infection, disease activity and drug fever using a high sensitive PCT detection method.

Methods:

In 53 AAV patients with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) PCT was determined by the Thermo Scientific BRAHMS PCT sensitive KRYPTOR assay. Patients underwent standardized diagnostic procedures for evaluation of disease activity and infection.

Results:

53 patients with AAV and elevated CRP (7.7±6.9 mg/dl, PCT 0.34±1.02 ng/ml) were assessed, 10 had infection with elevated CRP levels of 11.2±10.2 mg/dl and PCT levels of 1.06±2.07 ng/dl. 43 patients had no evidence of infection, 36 of them were presented with AAV with normal or only slightly positive PCT levels in active disease (n=36) (PCT 0.06±0.06 ng/ml). 7 patients had increased PCT levels due to azathioprine hypersensitivity (0.76±1.01 ng/ml). For discrimination between infection and vasculitis activity PCT was more useful than CRP with the best cut-off at 0.1 ng/ml (sensitivity 60%, specificity 92%).

Conclusion:

In contrast to previous studies using semiquantitative PCT assays, the KRYPTOR performs better with respect to discrimination of infection from active AAV. In all patients assessed with active AAV (and without infection) PCT levels remained below the PCT reference limit (0.5 ng/ml) for infections. Drug hypersensitivity seems to be an important differential diagnosis in the setting of elevated CRP and PCT in patients who receive azathioprine.

Keywords: Active vasculitis, azathioprine hypersensitivity, infection, procalcitonin.