[Endoperoxides and the immunological indices of patients with chronic pyelonephritis]

In 31 patients with chronic active pyelonephritis and 10 clinically healthy controls the following indices were followed up: the serum level of the endoperoxides and several parameters of humoral and cell immunity (T-lymphocytes, active T-lymphocytes, T-helpers, T-suppressors, B-lymphocytes, NK-cells, immunoglobulins G, A and (M), as well as the lysing activity of the natural killers towards the cell line K-562. The patients with chronic pyelonephritis were classified into two groups: I group--patients examined for serum peroxides in the acute phase of the inflammatory process and II group--patients examined in the subacute phase. A statistically significant differences was found for the serum endoperoxides between the patients form the I group (in the acute phase of the disease) and the healthy controls (respectively) 52.0 +/- 17.3 nmol MDA and 9.0 +/- 6.9 nmol MDA, p less than 0.001). The difference between the patients in the subacute phase and the healthy controls was insignificant (p less than 0.1). No significant deviations were found in the immunologic indices studied. The findings show that the immunologic mechanisms probably do not play a leading role in the pathogenesis of chronic pyelonephritis. The endoperoxides level is an index of the activity of inflammatory process in this disease.