The relationship between infiltration of lymphocytes in renal tissues and podocytes injury in patients with lupus nephritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the relationship between the infiltration of lymphocytes in renal tissues and podocytes injury in patients with lupus nephritis (LN),and provide the evidence of mechanism of podocytes injury in LN.Methods Thirty cases of biopsy proven LN patients were enrolled into the study,10 cases were selected as a the controls.The clinical and pathological data and renal tissues were collected.The infiltration of T lymphocytes (CD4+,CD8+ cells) and B lymphocytes (CD20+ cells) in renal tissues were detected by immunohistochemical method.The nephrin expression was detected by immunofluorescence.The relationship between CD4+,CD8+,CD20+ cells in renal tissues and 24 h UP,nephrin expression were analyzed by Pearson's correlation analysis,respectively.Results ① Compared with the control group,the 24 h UP was increased [2.86±1.37 vs 0.10±0.22 (g/24 h)];the infiltrations of inflammatory cells were increased significantly,the podocytes injury could be observed,combined with effacement of podocytes foot processes or disappeared in the LN group.Moreover,the increase of 24 h UP of active LN group was more evident than that in the inactive group [3.91 ±1.45 vs 1.77±0.69 (g/24 h),F=24.15,P＜0.05],and the infiltration of inflammatory cellsand effacement of podocytes foot processes were more severe in the active LN group.②Compared with the control group,the nephrin expression decreased and the infiltration of CD4+,CD8+ and CD20+ cells in the renal tissues increased significantly,which was mainly aggregated in renal interstitial tissue.And In addition,CD4+ [98±13 vs 40±12 (cells/glomerulus),F=240.18,P＜0.05],CD8+[109.0±16.4 vs 53.3±12.1(cells/glomerulus),F=210.40,P＜0.05] and CD20+ [149.4±1.4 vs 82.6±13.3 (cells/glomerulus),F=544.30,P＜0.05] cells of the active LN group were more remarkable than that in the inactive group.③ The Pearson correlation analysis showed that CD4+,CD8+ and CD20+ cells in renal tissues were positively correlated with 24 h UP (r=0.688,0.748,0.702;P＜0.01),and were negatively correlated with nephrin expression (r=-0.623,-0.793,-0.693;P＜0.01).Conclusion The infiltrations of CD4+,CD8+ and CD20+cells in renal tissues are very closely related with podocytes injury in patients with LN,and the infiltration of lymphocytes may be an important mechanism for podocytes injury in LN patients.