Endothelin is a 21-residue peptide vasoconstrictor produced by endothelium. The exact role of endothelin in the pathophysiology of renal disease has not yet been extensively demonstrated Thus. to elucidate pathophysiological significance of
plasma
and
urinary endothelin-1 (ET-1) in patients with lupus nephritis, we studied 7 patients diagnosed as lupus nephritis by kidney biopsy and 7 healthy volunteers. Serum and urinary biochemical studies including creatinine and ET-1 were done, and urinary
excretion of N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) was also measured.
@ES The results were as follow ;
@EN 1) Patient group and control group showed no significant differences in their clinical characteristics, basic biochemical studies. serum creatinine, plasna ET-1 urinary excretion of protein, NAG and creatinine and ET-1 clearance, Of 7 iupus
nephritis patients, only 2 patients, only 2 patients showed abnormal serum complement and anti-dsDNA
2) In lupus nephritis patients, plasma ET-1 level showed no correlation with werum cratinine, complement and anti-dsDNA (p>0.05)/
3) ET-1 clearance showed no significant correlation with oreatinine clearance rate complement, anti-dsDNA and urinary NAG excretion.
Plasma ET-1 level and its clearance rate could not reflect the lupus nephritis activity. But our study included small number of patients and only 2 patients of pathologically proven lupus nephritis showed active disease, biochemically and
clinically,
and the majority of patients has alreday been in remission stated after treatment Above factors probably acted as a bias against the results, leading to statistical limitations. In further studies. we should broaden our subject group in number
and
to
other renal diseases than limiting to lupus nephritis and prospective long term follow up study is indicated to further investigate the role of urinary excretion of ET-1 and their mechanism of action on renal disease.
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