Estimation of monocyte‐chemoattractantprotein‐1 (Mcp‐1) level in patients with lupus nephritis

Aim: To evaluate the use of non‐invasive estimation of CP‐1 in urine as a good indicator for lupus nephritis activity. Methods: The study was conducted on 30 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (group I): 15 of these patients were selected without renal involvement (group I [A]), and the other 15 were selected with evidence of renal involvement (group I [B]). Further 10 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy subjects were taken as a control group (group II). The SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) was applied. Laboratory investigations done for the studied group of patients included: renal function tests (antinuclear antibody) titer, (anti‐double‐stranded DNA) titer, and monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP‐1) level in serum and urine samples. Results: Serum MCP‐1 was significantly higher in SLE patients with nephritis than in the control group, while no significant difference was found between SLE patients without nephritis and the control group. Urinary MCP‐1 in patients with active lupus nephritis (LN) were significantly higher than both patients with inactive LN and control the group. Urinary MCP‐1 in SLE patients with nephritis was significantly higher than both group I (A) and group II. Urinary MCP‐1 correlated positively with proteinuria, and negatively with creatinine clearance and hemoglobin; thus, urinary MCP‐1 correlates with the severity of nephritis. Conclusion: Urinary and not serum MCP‐1 is a useful invasive technique for the assessment of renal disease activity in patients with LN.