Association of the initial gene signature with the treatment response

We hypothesised that the gene expression differences before and after treatment may indicate a potential risk for disease relapse in patients with LVV. We compared gene expression levels at weeks 0 and 6 between responders and non‐responders and calculated the AUC by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We also investigated serum cytokine levels and compared them between responders and non‐responders at weeks 0 and 6.