Serum cytokine profiles in children with IgA vasculitis with nephritis

Yanyan Jin; Xue He; Weiqiang Lin; Zhaoyang Peng; Wei Li; Wenqing Xiang; Zhihui Chen; Haidong Fu; Jianhua Mao

doi:10.17305/bb.2024.11081

Authors

Yanyan Jin Department of Nephrology, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China
Xue He Department of Nephrology, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China
Weiqiang Lin International Institutes of Medicine, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
Zhaoyang Peng Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China
Wei Li Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China
Wenqing Xiang Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China
Zhihui Chen Department of Infection Management, Wenzhou People's Hospital, Wenzhou, China
Haidong Fu Department of Nephrology, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China
Jianhua Mao Department of Nephrology, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17305/bb.2024.11081

Keywords:

IgA vasculitis with nephritis, high-throughput cytokine chip, signaling pathway, molecular markers

Abstract

This study aimed to discover novel serum biomarkers for IgA vasculitis with nephritis (IgAVN). The serum of IgA vasculitis (IgAV) patients without nephritis and IgAVN patients not treated with glucocorticoids was analyzed for 440 proteins using a novel quantitative planar protein microarray. To verify the biomarkers, semiquantitative immunofluorescence analysis was performed on selected differential cytokines in a separate cohort of kidney tissue samples. A total of 41 proteins were differentially expressed between the IgAVN and IgAV groups out of the 440 proteins analyzed. Five differentially abundant proteins, including VEGF R3, ADAM12, TIM-3, IL-12p40, and CEACAM-5, were further validated by semiquantitative immunofluorescence analysis in kidney tissue from independent cohorts. ADAM12, TIM-3, IL-12p40, and CEACAM-5 were expressed in kidney tissue. A linear relationship was observed between the pathological grade of IgAVN and the expression levels of ADAM12 and CEACAM-5. Furthermore, while the prognosis of children with IgAVN may have a linear relationship with CEACAM-5, the results did not indicate a significant statistical difference, which may be related to the sample size. The expression of ADAM12 and CEACAM-5 were positively correlated with the pathological grade. More importantly, we found that CEACAM-5 may be related to the prognosis of IgAVN, which could serve as a significant biomarker for assessing disease severity and monitoring disease progression.