[Nephritic model induced by anti-Thy1.1 monoclonal antibody and its application to study on Chinese materia medica]

The anti-Thy1.1 glomerulonephritis (GN) model induced by anti-Thy1.1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) is a widely used animal model for human mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MsPGN), which is characterized by significant proteinuria and acute or progressive mesangial injury following the complement-mediated mesangiolysis and glomerular inflammatory cell infiltration. In this review, it has been discussed that the pathogenesis of reversible anti-Thy1.1 GN or irreversible anti-Thy1.1 GN induced by mAb 1-22-3 injection, the mechanisms governing inflammatory cells infiltration and several injurious cytokines in glomeruli, and some of the processes involved in the resolution of mesangial lesion such as mesangial cell proliferation and matrix expansion. Using these models, it has been reported to examine the effects of Chinese materia medica, including multi-glycoside of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. (GTW) and Sairei-to on mesangial damage and proteinuria, and then to clarify the mechanism of these herbs at molecular level by examining the effects on various injurious factors.