Systemic inflammation in children remains difficult to detect and monitor across autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases. Data presented at the 15th International Congress of Autoimmunity #AUTO2026 highlights the potential of serum calprotectin as a biomarker for identifying and monitoring disease activity in paediatric inflammatory conditions.
Serum calprotectin was measured using the GCAL® turbidimetric assay from Gentian.
The prospective pilot study, “Serum Calprotectin in Pediatric Inflammation: A Cross-Disease Comparison,” included 228 children across seven groups, including:
Children with active disease showed higher calprotectin levels than those in remission or healthy controls, supporting the assay’s value as a marker of systemic inflammation and disease activity.
These findings highlight serum calprotectin as a potential biomarker for diagnosing and monitoring systemic inflammation in paediatric patients. By differentiating between active and inactive disease, serum calprotectin may help clinicians assess inflammatory burden more accurately, including in cases where traditional biomarkers such as C-reactive protein may be inconclusive.
The authors conclude that serum calprotectin shows promise as both a diagnostic and disease-monitoring biomarker across multiple paediatric inflammatory diseases. Further studies are warranted to validate its broader clinical application.
The data is from a study at University of Zagreb School of Medicine (Croatia), led by Prof. Marija Jelusic. The poster #892 will be presented on Sunday 17th May, by the Gentian Calprotectin Team, as a short oral presentation with a supporting digital poster at the conference.
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