Expression of interleukin-18 and nuclear factor-kappaB in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of children with primary nephritic syndrome and its clinical significance

ZHANG Jun; YU Li; WANG Hui-yang; ZHANG Yao

Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical significance of expression of interleukin-18 (IL-18) and nu-clear factor-kappaB ( NF-κB) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of children with steroid-sensitive nephritic syn-drome ( SSNS) .Methods Thirty children with SSNS before and after treatment were divided into active stage group and remission group, while twenty healthy children were enrolled as control group.Peripheral venous blood samples were col-lected to exam the biochemical indexes, including ALB, TC, TG, BUN and Scr;and 24 h urine were collected to exam the 24h urinary protein.The peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were extracted to compare the concentration of IL-18 and NF-κB in PBMCs by ELISA between two groups, and analyze the correlation between IL-18/NF-κB and 24 h urinary protein.Results There were significant differences in the biochemical indexes and 24 h urinary protein be-tween active stage group and remission group ( P<0.05 ) .Significant reductions both in IL-18 and NF-κB were ob-served in active stage group when comparing with those in remitten group or control group (P<0.05), while there was no significant difference found between remittent group and control group.Linear regression analysis showed that in active stage group, IL-18 and NF-κB were significantly positively correlated with 24h urinary protein (P<0.05).Conclu-sion The pathogenesis of PNS in children may be related to the PBMC secretion of IL-18 and increased NF-κB activi-ty, monitoring the changes of IL-18 and NF-κB concentrations may be used as an important reference for observing the activity of PNS in children.