Circulating prothymosin alpha and immunoglobulin G3 in acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease: A case-control study.
American heart journal plus : cardiology research and practice·
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ahjo.2025.100630
- PMID
- 41126870
- PMCID
- PMC12537566
- OpenAlex
- W4414695858
- Study type
- Case-control study
- Publisher
- Publisher unavailable
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Findings are relevant to the lack of specific diagnostic tests for acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in low-resource settings, where these diseases impose the greatest burden.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study investigates whether circulating prothymosin alpha and immunoglobulin G3 can serve as biomarkers distinguishing acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease from controls.
Study design
A case-control study measuring blood prothymosin alpha and immunoglobulin G3 via immunoassays in archived serum (Pakistan) and plasma (Uganda) samples.
Population and setting
Participants from Pakistan and Uganda were categorized as definite acute rheumatic fever (n = 24), possible acute rheumatic fever (n = 15), chronic rheumatic heart disease (n = 11), and controls (n = 36).
Main findings
Total IgG3 was significantly elevated in definite acute rheumatic fever compared with controls, possible acute rheumatic fever, and chronic rheumatic heart disease across both sample sets. Prothymosin alpha levels did not differ across these groups in either serum or plasma.
Public-health relevance
Findings are relevant to the lack of specific diagnostic tests for acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in low-resource settings, where these diseases impose the greatest burden.
Important limitations
This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; explicit limitations such as sample size, assay validation, or potential confounding are not stated in the abstract and the original paper is required for decision-grade interpretation.
GIDS interpretation
The paper is indexed under the Diagnostics topic and relates to rheumatic fever, making it discoverable as candidate biomarker research; this summary does not link the article to any active surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 5 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.