Year: 2010
Type: review
Abstract: Kidney disease is one of the most serious manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Despite the improvement in the medical care of SLE in the past two decades, the prognosis of lupus nephritis remains unsatisfactory. Besides exploring more effective but less toxic treatment modalities that will further improve the remission rate, early detection and treatment of renal activity may spare patients from intensive immunosuppressive therapies and reduce renal damage. Conventional clinical parameters such as creatinine clearance, proteinuria, urine sediments, anti-dsDNA, and complement levels are not sensitive or specific enough for detecting ongoing disease activity in the lupus kidneys and early relapse of nephritis. Thus, novel biomarkers are necessary to enhance the diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity of lupus renal disease, prognostic stratification, monitoring of treatment response, and detection of early renal flares. This paper reviews promising biomarkers that have recently been evaluated in longitudinal studies of lupus nephritis.
Source: BioMed Research International
DOI: 10.1155/2010/638413
Author: Chi Chiu Mok
Institutions: Tuen Mun Hospital, Pok Oi Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Rheumatology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,680
OpenAlex ID: W1965790129