Korean Journal of Nephrology 1997;16(1):21-27.

(Eosinophil Cationic Protein in HSP and in IgA Nephropathy)

Mee Kyung Namgoong , Jong Soo Kim

Abstract

Interleukin-5 (IL-5), which is known to be an activator of human eosinophil, increases in IgA nephropathy. In order to find out the relationship between activated eosinophil function and the pathogenesis of Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) and IgA nephropathy, serum esosinophil cationic protein (ECP) was analyzed using a monoclonal antibody Besides, the soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R) was analyzed to clarify if there was a positive correlation between T cells and activated eosinophils. As anticipated, the levels of ECP, in detail, were significantly higher among HSP patients with a mean of 9.71.8pg/L than in a control group with a mean of 4.6±0.7pg/L. The HSP patients were also classified as one group with normal urine and another group with abnormal urine. The latter showed higher levels of ECP than the former. On the other hand, the levels of ECP were higher in IgA nephropathy patients than in the control group,: however, there was no significance in statistics. The sIL-2R levels were higher in HSP patients than those in serums of IgA nephropathy patients and the control group. Thus, this study came to a conclusion that the activated eosinophil might be one of the pathogeneses in HSP but not in IgA nephropathy.