Serum MCP-1 and OPN Combination May Help Diagnose Early Renal Injury in Gout

The combination of serum Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and Osteopontin (OPN) had high diagnostic value of early renal injury in patients with gout, according to new research.1

“The results indicated that MCP-1 and OPN are independent influencing factors for early kidney damage in gout patients,” lead investigator Haiying Chang, Rheumatology Department, Ganzhou People’s Hospital, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China, and colleagues wrote.1 “This is beneficial for clinicians to promptly formulate and adjust effective targeted treatment plans. Based on the trends in MCP-1 and OPN expression, it is hypothesized that with the progression of treatment, serum MCP-1 and OPN levels may further decrease. However, this study has not yet completed follow-up for all patients, and therefore, the role of MCP-1 and OPN in treatment response could not be observed.”

Change and colleagues included 174 patients with gout in the study between January 2022 and October 2024, grouped into the early renal injury group (n = 50) and non-early renal injury group (n = 124), and 169 participants as healthy controls. The investigators measured clinical indicators such as serum creatinine, cystatin C (CysC), and GFR, as well as MCP-1 and OPN levels using ELISA. They used Pearson’s correlation to analyze relationships, Logit regression to identify influencing factors, ROC curves to assess diagnostic value, and Z-tests for area under the curve (AUC) comparisons.

The investigators found that serum MCP-1 and OPN levels were significantly higher in the gout group compared to controls (P <.05) and further elevated in the early renal injury group (P <.05). MCP-1 and OPN had positive correlations with creatinine and CysC and a negative correlation with GFR (P <.05).1

Using logit regression, they identified MCP-1 (odds ratio [OR], 2.765; 95% CI, 1.308–5.846) and OPN (OR, 3.019; 95% CI, 1.468–6.210) as independent risk factors (P <.05). For use in diagnosing early renal injury, MCP-1 alone had an AUC of 0.775, OPN alone had an AUC of 0.827, and MPC-1 and OPN combined had an AUC of 0.938 (Z test scores compared to MPC1, 3.075; OPN, 2.273; P <.05.1

“In conclusion, serum MCP-1 and OPN levels detected in gout patients are independently associated with early kidney damage, and their combined detection can effectively diagnose early kidney damage with diagnostic efficacy higher than that of either marker alone. MCP-1 and OPN may aid early kidney damage diagnosis and prognosis in gout, offering potential targets for new treatments. Larger-scale and more carefully designed clinical studies will be conducted in the future to provide more universally applicable results,” Chang and colleagues concluded.1

In other recent gout news, XORTX announced last week that it would have a Type B meeting with the FDA to review chemistry, manufacturing, pharmacology, toxicology and clinical evidence regarding its XRx-026 program for the treatment of gout. The XRx-026 program is developing a formulation of oxypurinol termed XORLO. The company shared that it should have feedback from the FDA in late April to inform a potential new drug application.2

REFERENCES

1. Chang H, Lv J, Zheng Y, Li D, Li Y. The Diagnostic Value of Serum MCP-1 Combined with OPN Detection for Early Renal Injury in Gout Patients. Int J Gen Med. 2025;18:1423-1429. Published 2025 Mar 11. doi:10.2147/IJGM.S508220

2. XORTX Announces Update for Discussion with the FDA. News release. XORTX. March 19, 2025. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/03/19/3045235/0/en/XORTX-Announces-Update-for-Discussion-with-the-FDA.html