Background/Objectives: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by fluctuating disease activity and multi-organ involvement. The identification of reliable biomarkers that accurately reflect disease activity remains a significant clinical challenge, particularly in predicting disease flares. Chemokines are key mediators of immune cell recruitment and inflammation, making them promising candidates for disease activity monitoring. Therefore, we evaluated serum concentrations of CCL2, CCL4, CCL5, CXCL8, and CXCL10 and examined their associations with disease activity and clinical manifestations in patients with SLE. Patients and Methods: A total of 52 patients with SLE were enrolled in the study, of whom 15 (28.8%) had active disease (SLE Disease Activity Index SLEDAI ≥ 5) and 37 (71.2%) were in remission (SLEDAI 0.05, for all). In contrast, CCL5 levels were 34.30% higher in patients with SLE compared with controls (p = 0.013), with the strongest increase observed in the inactive disease subgroup as compared to controls (by 40.29%, p = 0.021). CXCL8 levels were markedly elevated in patients with active SLE relative to those in remission (by 123.30%, p = 0.011) and to healthy individuals (by 183.96%, p = 0.049). CXCL10 levels were higher in both active and inactive SLE groups compared with controls (increase of 180.80%, p 0.05, for all). CXCL8 and CXCL10 correlated positively with disease activity scores, inflammatory markers, and several immune parameters, indicating their relevance to ongoing inflammatory processes (p 0.05, for all). Conclusions: In our study, serum levels of CXCL8 and CXCL10 reflect disease activity and systemic inflammation in SLE, supporting their potential value as biomarkers for monitoring ongoing immune activation. Baseline concentrations of the examined chemokines did not predict future disease flares, indicating their limited utility in this context.
Dziedzic et al. (2026) studied this question.