IL-12 Pathway as Prognostic Factor in Lupus Nephritis Disease

Background: Lupus nephritis (LN) is a major complication of SLE affect 50-60% of SLE patients that affects around 5 million people worldwide. IL-12/pathway is a pivotal player in the immune system and is central to controlling number of inflammatory diseases. This study design to investigate the role of IL-12/ as biomarker in lupus nephritis patients.

Materials and Methods: A case-control study design on 70 participates which included 30 lupus nephritis patients with different stages diagnosis by nephrology specialist collected from nephrology department in Al-sadder medical city in AL- Najaf, from October 2022 till end of February 2023 and 40 control groups divided into two types, first 20 apparently healthy and 20 nephropathy patients without autoimmunity. Blood sample was collected from all participants to detected IL-12/ serum level by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: The results showed a significant increase in the mean levels of serum IL-12 in lupus nephritis patients (37.09 ± 3.47) were higher than healthy and nephropathy patients (1.89 ± 0.47; 12.32± 3.41 pg/ml) respectively, the difference was highly significant (P <.0001). According to lupus nephritis grades, IL-12 serum level increase with disease progression, so IL-12 in grade IV higher than grade I.

Conclusion: Serum levels of IL-12/were significantly increased in lupus nephritis Iraqi patients and increased correlated with progressive of disease may be considered as a prognostic factor for disease.