| 1 |
EG |
Download |
| Egypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol |
|
2014 |
; |
12 |
( |
02 |
) |
: |
63-70 |
- |
|
|
, |
ESP - 169 |
|
Original articles |
|
| Renal expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in lupus nephritis in
the pediatric age group |
| Yehia M. El-Gamal |
|
Shereen S. El-Sayed |
|
Naglaa S. Ahmed |
|
Marwa S. Abbas |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial
role in preservation of renal functions and may also serve as a useful
biomarker in monitoring the progression of lupus nephritis (LN). Objective:
We thought to correlate VEGF expression in the kidney with renal
histopathology in lupus nephritis to unveil its possible relation to disease
activity and severity. Methods: We consecutively enrolled 15 patients with
lupus nephritis and ten renal biopsy specimens from patients with cystic
renal diseases as controls. The study measurements included SLEDAI,
SLICC/ ACR damage index and BILAG renal score. Paraffin sections from
renal biopsies were subjected to routine haematoxylin and eosin staining
and Immunohistochemical staining for VEGF. Results: Among SLE patients,
7 (46.7%) showed mild expression of VEGF, 5 (33.3%) showed moderate
while 3 (20%) had strong expression of the marker. On the contrary, the
control samples (100%) revealed strong marker expression. All subjects
with class IV and V lupus nephritis had mild renal expression of VEGF.
Renal expression of VEGF had a significant positive correlation with serum
creatinine and complement C3 levels. The 24 hours’ excretion of urinary
proteins had a significant negative correlation with the renal expression of
the marker. On the other hand, the activity indices and therapeutic
modalities did not correlate with VEGF expression. Conclusion: This pilot
study among pediatric cases of SLE revealed mild to moderate VEGF
expression in most cases of proliferative LN. Further longitudinal studies
are needed to investigate the consequences of this finding on the prognosis
of the disease. |
| |