الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The aim of this work is to prove, if IL-6 levels in serum or urine and/ or serum level of IL-1ra can serve as an accurate indicator of either specific organ system or global disease activity and to study the relationship between the levels of IL-1ra and IL-6 and disease activity and the acute phase response in SLE patients with and without renal involvement. We conclude from this study: Circulating serum levels of IL-6 and IL-1ra as measured by ELISA do not reflect general clinical severity of SLE disease activity as measured by SLAM score. On the other hand serum IL-6 correlated strongly with SLAM indices of active disease within cardiopulmonary system and weakly with cardiovascular system. While urine IL-6 level positively correlated with cardiovascular SLAM, cardiopulmonary SLAM score, renal SLAM score and overall SLAM score. Urinary IL-6 may reveal the pathological changes more sensitively than active urinary sediments. Adding the measurements of urinary IL-6 level to the conventional prognostic indices of lupus nephritis, such as the level of anti-dsDNA antibodies, serum complement and urinary protein exertion, may improve our ability to accurately predict the outcome in patients with lupus nephritis. Low serum concentration of IL-1ra, low serum level of CRP, together with low levels of circulating C3 in active lupus nephritis group, appear to be marker of kidney involvement. Positive correlation was found between C-creative protein level and serum levels of IL-6 & IL-1ra. The most common type of renal pathology in patients with lupus nephritis in our study was class IV diffuse proliferate glomerulonephritis (DPGN-71.43%). |