Urine Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 and Lupus Nephritis Disease Activity: Preliminary Report of a Prospective Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Objective. This longitudinal study aimed to determine the urine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (uMCP-1) levels in patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis (LN) at various stages of renal disease activity and to compare them to current standard markers. Methods. Patients with LN—active or inactive—had their uMCP-1 levels and standard disease activity markers measured at baseline and 2 and 4 months. Urinary parameters, renal function test, serological markers, and renal SLE disease activity index-2K (renal SLEDAI-2K) were analyzed to determine their associations with uMCP-1. Results. A hundred patients completed the study. At each visit, uMCP-1 levels (pg/mg creatinine) were significantly higher in the active group especially with relapses and were significantly associated with proteinuria and renal SLEDAI-2K. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that uMCP-1 was a potential biomarker for LN. Whereas multiple logistic regression analysis showed that only proteinuria and serum albumin and not uMCP-1 were independent predictors of LN activity. Conclusion. uMCP-1 was increased in active LN. Although uMCP-1 was not an independent predictor for LN activity, it could serve as an adjunctive marker when the clinical diagnosis of LN especially early relapse remains uncertain. Larger and longer studies are indicated.

Renal arterial resistive index in Egyptian patients with lupus nephritis: Correlation with disease activity and biopsy parameters

“…This denoting that most of the patients enrolled in the study are active proliferative LN cases. (Alharazy et al, 2015) found that there were significant differences between the active and inactive LN groups with regard to renal SLEDAI.…”

Clinical Use of Complement, Inflammation, and Fibrosis Biomarkers in Autoimmune Glomerulonephritis

“…In LN, there is also evidence of higher levels of MCP-1 in active disease, with levels declining following immunosuppression and rising several months before a relapse. 12,[20][21][22] In each of the GN we studied, previous studies have shown urinary TGF-b1 levels to be elevated during active disease and to correlate with histologic characteristics and proteinuria. 15,[54][55][56][57] In patients with MN, higher initial urinary TGF-b1 levels were associated with a persistent nephrotic syndrome and kidney function decline at 12 months.…”

Urinary Biomarkers for Chronic Kidney Disease with a Focus on Gene Transcript

“…Urine MCP-1 was related with renal function and lupus disease activity. [ 15 ] Protein microarray is the high-throughput analysis approach for urine cytokine. We previously constructed protein microarray for detection of inflammatory cytokines and found differential expression of cytokines in CKD patients.…”