• D D Qin, D Song, J Huang, F Yu, and M H Zhao.
• Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Peking University First Hospital; Institute of Nephrology, Peking University; Key Laboratory of Renal Disease, Ministry of Health of China; Key Laboratory of Chronic Kidney Disease Prevention and Treatment, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, PR China Department of Nephrology, The 2nd Affiliated Hospital, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, PR China.
• Lupus. 2015 May 1; 24 (6): 546-57.

BackgroundIn this study, we detected plasma urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) levels in Chinese lupus nephritis patients from a large cohort. The associations between plasma uPA and soluble uPAR and clinico-pathological characteristics were further analyzed.MethodsThe levels of plasma uPA and soluble uPAR were detected by ELISA in 202 patients with active lupus nephritis, 17 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients without renal involvement and 21 normal controls.ResultsThere were no significant differences in the levels of the average plasma uPA among the lupus nephritis group, non-renal SLE group and normal control group (p = 0.129). The plasma-soluble uPAR level in the lupus nephritis group was significantly higher than that in the non-renal involvement SLE group (p = 0.004) and that in normal controls (p < 0.001). The plasma uPAR levels were positively associated with SLEDAI scores (r = 0.215, p = 0.007). In renal pathological data, there was significant difference of plasma-soluble uPAR levels among various pathological classes, which was the highest in the class IV group (p = 0.012). The level of plasma-soluble uPAR was found to be a risk factor for long-term renal outcomes in lupus nephritis by univariate survival analysis (p = 0.013, HR = 6.326, 95% CI: 1.466-27.298).ConclusionsOur study showed that the significantly increased plasma levels of soluble uPAR could be found in active lupus nephritis, and they were associated with some clinico-pathological features. Its involvement in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis warrants further study.© The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

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