Wirestam L, et al. - In this investigation, researchers ascertained if raised serum osteopontin (OPN) levels precede damage and/or are associated with disease activity or certain disease phenotypes in a cohort of patients with recent-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Study participants included 344 subjects from the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) Inception Cohort who had 5 years of followup data available. According to results, baseline OPN was raised 4-fold in SLE cases compared to controls. The authors concluded that OPN's performance in predicting organ damage development was not impressive. OPN, however, was significantly associated with lupus nephritis and with raised disease activity at enrollment, as well as over time.