{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T15:41:19Z","timestamp":1784302879537,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,19]],"date-time":"2025-02-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1739923200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>To investigate alterations in blood lipid profiles and T cell subsets among systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients, and to assess their potential utility in predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>105 SSc patients and 80 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. Flow cytometry was employed to quantify T cell subsets. Multivariate logistic regression analysis investigated the association between blood lipid profile, T cell subsets, SSc occurrence, and CVD risk. Additionally, a prediction model was developed to assess the potential predictive value of CVD risk.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>In the SSc patients, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (OR = 3.212, 95%CI = 1.132-9.113, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>= 0.028), ESR (OR = 1.218, 95%CI = 1.086-1.367, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>= 0.001), CRP (OR = 2.156, 95% CI = 1.393-3.338, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.001), T helper (Th)cells (OR = 1.004, 95% CI = 1.001-1.008, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> = 0.034) were positively correlated with the risk of SSc. Further studies found that absolute increases in Th cells in SSc patients were positively associated with the risk of CVD (OR=1.002, 95%CI=1.001-1.005, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic> =0.011) and were independent predictors of CVD risk in SSc. When Th cells exceeded 866.53 cells\/\u03bcL, the risk of CVD in SSc patients was greatly increased (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>&amp;lt;0.001).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Altered lipid profiles and dysregulated Th cell expression in SSc patients, with a significant elevation of Th cells specifically noted in SSc-CVD patients, suggesting that Th cells may serve as a potential predictive biomarker for CVD in SSc patients, thereby aiding in early diagnosis. The underlying mechanism of this association requires further investigation.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1530909","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,19]],"date-time":"2025-02-19T06:53:25Z","timestamp":1739948005000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Aberrant lipid profiles and lymphocyte counts in systemic sclerosis population, reassessing predictive value for concurrent cardiovascular diseases"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Ronghong","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jinfang","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yanli","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ke","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s0140-6736(17)30933-9","article-title":"Systemic sclerosis","volume":"390","author":"Denton","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/art.40906","article-title":"Phenotypes determined by cluster analysis and their survival in the prospective European scleroderma trials and research cohort of patients with systemic sclerosis","volume":"71","author":"Sobanski","year":"2019","journal-title":"Arthritis Rheumatol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaad.2021.10.065","article-title":"Systemic sclerosis in adults. 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