Korean Journal of Nephrology 1993;12(2):127-135.

Henoch - Schonlein 자반증 신염 환아에서 혈청 및 요중 Interleukin - 6 의 변화

송규정 , 정우영 , 이순용 , 함건주

Abstract

By animal experiments in rat, it has been known that interleukin-6 (IL-6) is secreted from renal mesangial cells and is an autocrine growth factor for the prolifera- tion of mesangial cells. According to these facts, several studies have been tried for clinical use by measuring their serum or urinary IL-6 in glomerulonephritis patients with mesangial proliferation. The author mea- sured serum and urinary IL-6 by Interleukin-6 ['"I] RIA kit (Amersham Co) in 16 patients with Henoch- Schiinlein purpura (HSP), in 9 patients Henoch- Schonlein purpura nephritis (HSPN), and in 12 normal healthy children as a control group. The results were as follows: 1) The serum level of IL-6 were increased significant- ly in the HSP patient group compared to in both HSPN and normal control groups, statistically (p=0.005, p=0. 006). 2) The level of urinary IL-6 was increased significant- ly in HSPN group compared to in both HSP and normal control groups, statistically (p=0.023, p=0.045). 3) Of the 9 patients with HSPN confirmed by renal biopsy, there were 4 patients whose urinary IL-6 levels were higher than the upper level of that in normal control group (mean+2 S.D.). And according to the pathologic findings, they were classified as one case each of grade II and grade IV, and two cases of grade III. Also there was a positive correlation between the degree of mesangial proliferation and the urinary IL-6 level. 4) The urinary IL-6 level in the HSPN group had no relation with the level of urinary TNF-a, serum level of IL-6 or the amount of 24-hour urine protein. With these results, the author concluded that the level of urinary IL-6 in the patients with HSPN could be useful as an indirect indicator of the degree of mesan- gial proliferation and for the prediction of histological or clinical status in the follow-uo studies.