The relationship between interleukin-18 and podocyte injury in patients with lupus nephritis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between interleukin (IL) -18 and podocyte injury of lupus nephritis (LN). Methods Sixty cases of biopsy proven LN patients were enrolled into the study. Thirty cases were selected as controls. The clinical and pathological data, blood and urine samples and renal tissues were collected. The Nephrin expression was detected by immunohistochemical method and IL-18 was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The relationship between IL-18 and the Nephrin expression, clinical and pathological indicators of LN were analyzed. Results Thirty-eight cases were in active disease and 22 cases were in inactive disease in LN group according to SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) 2000. One-way ANOVA showed that the level of plasma and urine IL-18 in the LN groups were higher than those in the control group [(200±38) ng/ml, (18±5) ng/ml] (F=110.84, 203.09, P 0.05), and was negatively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (r=-0.562, P<0.05). It was positively correlated with serum creatinin, blood urea nitrogen, AI, TLAI and inflammatory cell infiltration (r=0.529, 0.482, 0.665, 0.690, 0.671, P<0.05). Conclusion IL-18 has a very close relationship with podocyte injury in patients with LN, and the uIL-18 can be a potential non-invasive detection method to monitor podocyte injury in LN patients. Key words: Lupus nephritis; Podocytes; Interleukin-18; Nephrin