ABSTRACT
Purpose To investigate the significance of u-PA and PAI-1 expression in various types ofglomerulonephritis. Methods The expression level of u-PA, PAI-1, type-Ⅳ collagen and PCNA positivenuclei in 120 cases of renal biopsies from patients with various types of glomerulonephritis were detected byimmunohistochemical method. Both the staining intensity of u-PA and PAI-1 in glomeruli were quantitativelyanalyzed by image analysis. Results The expression intensity of u-PA and PAI-1 was different in varoustypes of glomerulonephritis, which were significantly higher than that of the minor lesion group. Meanwhile,the intensity of PAI-1 stain was significantly higher than that of u-PA in various types of glomerulonephritis( P ＜ 0.05). The increase of u-PA expression was closely related to increase of type- Ⅳ collagen synthesis andhypercellularity in glomeruli(r = 0. 761 and 0. 811, P＜ 0.05), while the expression of PAI-1 was closelyrelated to the increase of Col-Ⅳ synthesis other than the cell proliferation in the glomeruli. ConclusionsThe over expression of u-PA and PAI-1 may play an important role in contributing to the pathogenesis anddevelopment of glomerulonephritis.