Fig 1: Verification of potential biomarkers for AS. (A) Expression levels of SAA1, FERMT3, ILK, and TLN1 in plasma samples from active-stage AS patients, stable-stage AS patients, and healthy controls measured by proteomics. ROC curves for the individual protein (SAA1, FERMT3, ILK, and TLN1) as a predictor to classify AS patients from healthy controls (B), and active-stage AS patients from stable-stage AS patients (C). (D) ELISA analysis of SAA1, FERMT3, ILK, and TLN1 expressions in the plasma samples from an independent validation cohort of healthy controls (N, n = 24), active-stage AS (A, n = 27), and stable-stage AS patients (S, n = 28). Statistical analyses employed Wilcoxon rank-sum test for intergroup comparisons, with results reported as mean ± SEM. Significance thresholds based on BH-adjusted p-values were defined as: *, <0.05; **, <0.01; ***, <0.001.