Fig. 2

Relationship between serum TIMP-1 levels and clinical outcomes from 6 to 18 months in the RemIT-JAV-RPGN study. a Relationship between serum TIMP-1 and CRP levels at 6 months and clinical outcomes from 6 to 18 months in 45 patients in remission 6 months after treatment (31 microscopic polyangiitis and 14 granulomatosis with polyangiitis). Difficulty reducing GC refers to patient receiving a daily GC dosage of ≥ 10 mg prednisolone 18 months after treatment. Each dot represents one patient. The light blue background indicates a low TIMP-1 level (< 150 ng/mL). Box plots show the median and IQR. Whiskers indicate the most extreme points within 1.5-fold of the IQR of the box. *p < 0.05. n.s. Not significant. b Comparison of clinical outcomes from 6 to 18 months in the low TIMP-1 group (< 150 ng/mL, n = 19) and high TIMP-1 group (≥ 150 ng/mL, n = 26). c Kaplan-Meier curves for the probability of remaining relapse-free in the low TIMP-1 group (< 150 ng/mL, n = 22) and high TIMP-1 group (≥ 150 ng/mL, n = 30). The tick mark indicates each censored case. Significance was measured using the Log-rank test. TIMP-1, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1; CRP, C-reactive protein; GC, glucocorticoid