Objective To investigate the correlation between urinary podocalyxin and Nephrin levels and renal injury in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus nephritis (SLE-N).
Methods Eighty patients with systemic lupus erythematosus nephritis treated in our hospital from June 2017 to June 2018 were selected as study subjects (LN group), and 80 healthy people in the same period were selected as the control group. The relative indexes of urine routine were compared between the two groups. The urinary podocalyxin and the ratio of Nephrin to creatinine in LN patients with different degree of renal injury were compared. The urinary podocalyxin was analyzed by ROC curve. The ratio of Nephrin to creatinine was used to diagnose the degree of renal injury in patients with LN, and the correlation between the ratio of urinary podocalyxin, Nephrin and creatinine and the degree of renal injury in patients with LN was analyzed by regression analysis.
Results Urinary podocalyxin, Nephrin, urine protein and creatinine in LN group were significantly higher than those in the control group (all
P<0.05), and the levels of complement C3 and C4 were significantly lower than those in the control group (all
P<0.05). The UPx/Cr of LN patients increased significantly with the increase of ISN/RPS score. There was a significant positive correlation between UPx/Cr, UN/Cr with ISN/RPS, AI and CI score in patients with LN. The results of ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of UPx/Cr was the highest, and the difference was statistically significant compared with the zero hypothesis (
P<0.05). Regression analysis showed that UPx/Cr was a significant predictor of renal injury in LN patients.
Conclusion The levels of urinary podocalyxin and Nephrin in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus nephritis are significantly higher than those in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus glomerulonephritis and may be a potential predictor of the severity of renal injury in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus nephritis.
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