Serum and urinary interleukin-6 and serum interleukin-1 receptor antagonist in renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus

This study included 45 systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE] patients and 15 age and sex matched controls. All patients [3 males and 42 females] met the revised ACR criteria for the diagnosis of SLE, their ages ranged from 11-50 years. Each patient was subjected to complete history, clinical examination and laboratory investigations including complete blood count, complete urine analysis, 24 hours total urinary protein excretion, erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], Coombs test, blood urea, creatinine clearance, anti-nuclear antibodies [ANA], anti- dsDNA IgG antibodies, C-reactive protein [CRP], serum and urinary interleukin-6 [sIL-6 and uIL-6], serum interleukin-1 receptor antagonist [sIL-1 ra], complement [C3 and C4] and renal biopsy. SLE disease activity was measured by systemic lupus activity measure [SLAM]. SLE patients were classified into two groups [renal and non- renal group]; in addition, the renal group was subdivided into two subgroups [active lupus nephritis [ALN] and inactive lupus nephritis [EN]]. The study concluded that urinary IL-6 may reveal the pathological changes more sensitively. Adding the measurement of uIL-6 level to the conventional prognostic indices of lupus nephritis may improve the ability to accurately predict the outcome in patients with lupus nephritis. Low serum concentration of IL-1 ra, low serum level of both CRP and circulating C3 in renal group appear to be markers of kidney involvement

Immunological studies in idiopathic frozen shoulder

This study included 35 patients with idiopathic frozen shoulder and 35 normal persons, age and sex matched controls. All subjects were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination, E.S.R, rheumatoid factor, serum immunoglobulin, [lg[G], Ig[M] and Ig[A]] and tissue typing [HLA[A], B and C]. The results showed that there was no significant differences between the patients and the control regarding the mean value of ESR, the levels of the immunogloublins classes. The distribution of the histocompatibility antigens in patients of frozen shoulder was nearly similar to subjects with the exception of HLA[B27] which was more common in patients with idiopathic frozen shoulder than controls