title: Imbalance of interleukin 18 and interleukin 18 binding protein in patients with lupus nephritis.
abstract: To evaluate the balance status of interleukin 18 (IL-18) and interleukin 18 binding protein (IL-18BP) in circulation in patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS), plasma levels as well as mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of IL-18 and IL-18BP were measured by ELISA and RT-PCR respectively. The ratio of IL-18/IL-18BP was also calculated. Both plasma IL-18 and IL-18BP increased significantly in LN patients while only IL-18BP increased in PNS, which resulted in an elevated ratio of IL-18/IL-18BP in LN but not in PNS patients when compared with normal controls. In contrast, increased level of IL-18 mRNA was only detected in LN but not in PNS group, although IL-18BP mRNA expressions in PBMCs in both groups were higher than that in control. The imbalance of IL-18 and IL-18BP might be involved in the pathogenesis of LN, based on which a therapeutic approach is valuable to be developed for LN.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nephrology, Guangdong Medical College, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 524001, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Wenfeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Cuiwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Huafeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiaowen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D008181:Lupus Nephritis / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D020382:Interleukin-18; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C118370:interleukin-18 binding protein