Clinical and pathological characteristics and the expression of interleukin-6, interleukin-17 and tumor necrosis factor-α in elderly patients with primary nephrotic syndrome

Abstract

Objective To investigate clinical and pathological characteristics and the expression of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in elderly patients with primary nephrotic syndrome. Methods A total of 75 elderly cases with primary nephrotic syndrome were chosen as the observation group, and 40 healthy elderly persons served as the control group. Fasting serum IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for both groups. Results 67 of the 75 patients received pathological diagnoses, of whom 46 had membranous glomerulonephritis, 5 had focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, 5 had mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis, 3 had mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, 3 had IgA nephropathy, and the rest included one case for each of the following disorders: glomerular minor lesion, sclerosing glomerulonephritis, diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis, segmental proliferative glomerulonephritis, and minor glomerular lesions. The expression of IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α had statistically significant differences between the two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in the expression of IL-6 and IL-17 between patients with different pathological characteristics, and the expression of TNF-α was higher in membranous glomerulonephritis patients than in patients with other pathological characteristics. Conclusions Membranous glomerulonephritis is the main pathological type in elderly patients with primary nephrotic syndrome. Serum IL-6, IL-17 and most notably TNF-α levels are elevated in patients with membranous glomerulonephritis. Key words: Nephrotic syndrome; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-17; Tumor necrosis factor-αlpha