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Correlation between the severity of clinicopathological parameters and whole blood interferon-alpha production
Kiichi Shirakawa1, Eri Muso, Fumiaki Nogaki
1Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto Japan.
Background/Aims:
Patients with IgA nephropathy (IgA-N) are thought to have immune system disorders that frequently result in high serum IgA levels and a relatively high susceptibility to upper respiratory infections.
Aims:
To clarify the influence of the specific immune response of IgA-N patients on the clinicopathological features of the disease, we measured the whole-blood-producing capacity of interferon-alpha (IFNalpha-PC). We then compared these findings with clinical and histopathological parameters, including tissue macrophage infiltration, during both histologically active and latent phases.
Patients And Methods:
Fifty-one inpatients with IgA-N and 70 healthy controls were examined. According to the histological findings, 32 patients had disease in the active phase (AP), and 19 were in the latent phase (LP).
Results:
In AP patients, IFNalpha-PC showed positive correlations to serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, serum beta2-microglobulin (s-beta2MG), urinary total protein (U-TP), and urinary beta2MG, in addition to the number of infiltrated macrophages per area of interstitium. In LP patients, negative correlations were shown between IFNalpha-PC and s-beta2MG, U-TP, and U-N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase.
Conclusion:
A significant positive relationship exists between IFNalpha-PC and the clinicopathological parameters of deteriorated renal lesions in the AP but not in the LP. Thus, the immune status influencing the functional damage may differ between these two phase.