We evaluated the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus in patients receiving glucocorticoid therapy for lupus nephritis. Patients with persistent nephritis were randomized to receive 28 weeks of double-blind treatment with tacrolimus (3 mg/day) or placebo. The primary endpoint was the change in the lupus nephritis disease activity index (LNDAI) calculated from scores for daily urinary protein excre...

Systemic lupus erythematosus is generally recognized to be a multisystem autoimmune disease with kidney involvement. However, the occurrence of other non-lupus glomerulopathies has been rarely reported in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. It is well known that lupus nephritis may switch over time to another class according to the World Health Organization classification. It seems like...

OBJECTIVE To investigate antibodies to complement 1q (anti-C1q) and investigate the correlation between anti-C1q titres and renal disease in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS 151 SLE patients were studied. In patients with biopsy proven lupus nephritis (n = 77), activity of renal disease was categorised according to the BILAG renal score. Sera were tested for anti-C1q by enzyme immu...

Renal biopsy remains the standard of care for the evaluation of suspected flares in lupus nephritis (1) and is generally indicated when proteinuria, active urine sediment, or elevated serum creatinine is present. By the time that a patient presents with these features, injury induced by the lupus disease activity may already be present, including acute and more concerning, chronic changes. Rena...

BACKGROUND Intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVCY) pulse therapy has been used for lupus nephritis since the latter half of the 1980s; it has been shown to be effective for lupus nephritis and vasculitis and has become a standard therapy for the diffuse proliferative type of lupus nephritis in adults. IVCY therapy has also come to be used in children. This paper reports the long-term outcomes of IV...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by aberrant T cell immune response. Diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis (LN-IV) is the most common, severe, and active form of lupus nephritis. In this study, we investigated the production of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokines in prediction of active form of LN-IV. ProcartaPlex multiplex immunoassays panels were used ...

NEPHRITIS Antibodies against DNA were described in 1957 by four independent research groups (1–4). Scientists at that time could not foresee that the discovery of antibodies to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) would have an immense impact on our understanding of origin and regulation of autoimmunity in general, and more specifically on autoimmunemediated inflammation. Soon after their discovery, it ...

Lupus nephritis is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus, but little is known about the pathogenic processes that underlie the progressive decay in renal function. A common finding in lupus nephritis is thickening of glomerular basement membranes associated with immune complex deposition. It has been speculated that alterations in the synthesis or degrad...

INTRODUCTION Glomerulonephritis is a major determinant of the course and prognosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and is evident in 40%-85% of patients. IL10, a cytokine produced by monocytes and-to a lesser extent-lymphocytes, has pleiotropic effects in immune regulation and inflammation. It enhances B cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, and antibody production; these effects...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether anticardiolipin (aCL) and anti-beta(2)-glycoprotein I (anti-beta(2)GPI) antibodies are associated with lupus nephritis (group II patients), and whether there are differences in the prevalence of these two autoantibodies between group II patients and patients with non-nephritis SLE (group I) and primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS) patients (group III). MET...