Fig. 3

Utility of serum CCL17 levels for predicting non-IPF-ILD progression in the discovery cohort. (A, B) Examination of the correlations between 13 candidate biomarkers and relative change of %FVC at 1 year and excerpts on CCL17. The relationship was analyzed using Spearman’s correlation analysis. The values in the heatmap represent the rho values. *, P < 0.05. Numbers of samples: interstitial lung disease (ILD; n = 72), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF; n = 38), non-IPF-ILD (n = 34). (C, D) Examination of the correlations of the 13 candidate biomarkers with prognosis and excerpts on CCL17. Overall survival was estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the log-rank test was used to assess the differences between the two comparison groups (serum levels > median vs. ≤ median). Univariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to determine the HRs of the two comparison groups (serum levels > median or ≤ median). The values in the heatmap represent HR values. *, P < 0.05. Numbers of samples: ILD (n = 143), IPF (n = 86), non-IPF-ILD (n = 57). (E) Serum CCL17 levels of patients with and without ILD progression within 1 year for each disease. (F) The percentages of patients with ILD progression within 1 year in groups with high and low CCL17 levels for each disease. (E, F) Differences between both groups were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test and Fisher’s exact tests, respectively. CCL, C-C motif chemokine ligand; %FVC, percent predicted forced vital capacity; HR, hazard ratio; ILD, interstitial lung disease; IPF, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis