Utility of the 52-Gene Risk Score to Identify Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis at Greater Risk of Mortality in the Era of Antifibrotic Therapy

We investigated whether a 52-gene signature was associated with transplant-free survival and other clinically meaningful outcomes in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in the IPF-PRO Registry, which enrolled patients who were and were not taking antifibrotic therapy.

The 52-gene risk signature was implemented to classify patients as being at “high risk” or “low risk” of disease progression and mortality. Transplant-free survival and other outcomes were compared between patients with a low-risk versus high-risk signature.

The 52-gene signature classified 159 patients as at low risk and 86 as at high risk; in these groups, respectively, 56.6% and 51.2% used antifibrotic therapy at enrollment. Among those taking antifibrotic therapy, patients with a low-risk versus high-risk signature were at decreased risk of death, a composite of lung transplant or death, and a composite of decline in DLco % predicted > 15%, lung transplant, or death. Similar results were observed in the overall cohort.

These data suggest that the 52-gene signature can be used in patients with IPF treated with antifibrotic therapy to distinguish patients at higher risk of disease progression and mortality.