Role of Serum Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor Level in the Diagnosis of Sarcoidosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background and aim: Serum Soluble Interleukin-2 Receptor (sIL-2R) levels are used clinically as a disease activity marker for systemic sarcoidosis. Studies have investigated the diagnostic role of serum soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) level for sarcoidosis relative to biopsy. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies evaluating the diagnostic utility of sIL-2R.

Methods: We carried out an electronic search in Medline, Embase, Google Scholar, and Cochrane databases using keyword and Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms: sarcoidosis and sIL-2R. Studies evaluating the sIL-2R levels as a diagnostic tool in clinically diagnosed or biopsy-proven sarcoidosis patients compared to control groups with non-sarcoidosis patients were included. Forest plots were constructed using a random effect model depicting pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and diagnostic accuracy.

Results: We selected ten studies comprising 1477 patients, with 592 in the sarcoidosis group and 885 in the non- sarcoidosis group. Pooled sensitivity and specificity of sIL-2R levels were 0.88 (95% CI: 0.75-0.95) and 0.87 (95% CI 0.73-0.94) respectively. Pooled negative predictive value and positive predictive value were 0.91 (95% CI 0.77-0.97) and 0.85 (95% CI 0.59-0.96) respectively with diagnostic accuracy of 0.86 (95% CI 0.71- 0.93).

Conclusion: In addition to its utility as a marker of sarcoidosis disease activity, sIL-2R has high diagnostic accuracy. Despite the limitations of the heterogenous sarcoidosis population and different sIL-2R cutoffs, our results suggest that sIL-2R is an important biomarker that can be used to confirm sarcoidosis diagnosis in unconfirmed or unclear cases.