Estimation of Some Immunological Markers of Iraqi Patients in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus with Lupus Nephritis

Abstract

Background: The chronic autoimmune inflammatory, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is a disease
that may be caused by autoantibody production, complement activation, and immune complex deposition.
Several organs can be affected by this disease; lupus nephritis which considers the most complication that
may be occurred. The aim of our study is to establishif that serum sVCAM-1 and IL-18 can be applied as
biomarker for diagnosis of LN and CKD in patients with SLE.
Method: One hundred twenty patients from both sexes were enrolled in this study. The subjects have been
divided into three groups, group one and group two represent the patient groups that include, (40) patients
SLE with LN (8 male-32 female) with age range (19-44) years for the group one, (40) patients SLE without
LN with age range (16-45), for the group two. The third group includes (40) healthy subjects with age range
(19-62) years, which represent the control group. VCAM-1 and IL-18, were estimated by ELISA method.
Results: The results referred to present high level of VCAM-1 and IL-18 in patients group that represent a
complication case of SLE in comparison with patients group without complication ‘’ without LN’’. At the
same time, the results showed significance increasing of VCAM-1 and IL-18 in both patients groups rather
than control group. Also, this study revealed a significant correlation (p<0.01) between VCAM-1 and IL-18,
but no correlation with other relevant factors.
Conclusion: The results revealed the elevation of both sVCAM-1 and IL-18 levels in patients with SLE.
Furthermore, this study indicates the association between the mentioned biochemical factors and suggests
being as a useful indicators for LN in patients with SLE.