CRP and diabetes mellitus: Other laboratory and clinical indicators identified to predict rapid progression or poor prognosis include serum ferritin, C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and Krebs Von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), as well as anti-melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (anti-MDA5) antibody titres, anti-Ro-52 levels, white blood cell (WBC) count, disease duration, fever, and age, although these studies mainly focused on patients with DM, particularly those with anti-MDA5+ (22–24).