Expression of interleukin-6 in tubulointerstitial lesions of patients with active lupus nephritis and its significance / 中华肾脏病杂志

ABSTRACT

To investigate the pathogenic mechanism of interleukin 6(IL-6) in the tubulointerstitial lesions of patients with active lupus nephritis(LN). Methods Uninary IL-6 from 42 active LN cases and the renal tissues sections from 15 of them were examined by performing ELISA and in situ hybridization with IL-6 cDNA probe labelled by digoxingenin respectively. Results In 36/42 (85.7%) of active LN patients, uninary IL-6 content was higher than or equal to 5 pg/mg ,cr, while no one case did in normal controls. Uninary IL-6 content was highly correlated with the uninary ft-m and NAG excretion respectively. In normal tubules and interstitium, IL-6 mRNA was undetectable. For all sections from 15 active cases, IL-6 mRNA was found in tubular and interstitial cells, and the distribution correlated with the extent of tubulointerstitial lesions. Conclusion IL-6 is probably involved in tubulointerstitial lesions of patients with active lupus nephritis.