title: Urinary monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 correlates with disease activity in lupus nephritis.
abstract: Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) has a pathogenic role in murine lupus nephritis (LN). We recruited 25 pediatric and adolescent systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients from our lupus clinic [13 (52%) patients with LN and 12 (48%) lupus non-nephritis patients] and evaluated their urinary and plasma MCP-1 levels compared to adult and childhood controls. The median age and SLE disease duration of patients were 14.4 and 5.5 years, respectively. LN patients had a higher median renal (p=0.01) British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) index, with a tendency for higher total BILAG scores (p=0.2). There were significantly increased urinary MCP-1 levels in the LN patients compared to healthy controls (p<0.001) whose values were significantly higher than lupus non-nephritis children (p<0.004). Urinary MCP-1 levels correlated well with total BILAG scores (r=0.82, p=0.04). There were no differences in plasma MCP-1 levels between SLE patient groups and pediatric controls, although the levels in the childhood controls were elevated compared to those of the adult controls (p<0.04). These results provide evidence of increased urinary--but not plasma--MCP-1 levels in children with LN, which correlates well with SLE disease activity as measured by the BILAG index.
authors.affiliation: Nephro-Urology Unit, University College London Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK. s.marks@ich.ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.forename: Vanita
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Clarissa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pilkington
authors.forename: Kjell
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tullus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000652:urine; D000818:Animals; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine*; D008181:Lupus Nephritis / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D018932:Chemokine CCL2; D003404:Creatinine