Interleukin-8 in glomerulonephritis patients: a total of 57 patients p
articipated in this study, including 26 patients with IgA nephropathy
(IgA-N), 7 patients with minimal changes nephrotic syndrome (MCNS), 12
patients with mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (mes PGN), 1
1 patients with membraneous glomerulonephritis (MN) and 2 patients wit
h focal glomerulosclerosis (FGS). Twenty six normal healthy volunteers
(NHV) served as control. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) was tested in both seru
m and urine using a specific immune-assay. IL-8 serum levels were sign
ificantly increased in patients with glomerulonephritis compared to th
eir levels in normal individuals (P<0.0001 IgA-N, P<0.01 MCNS, P<0.001
mes PGN and MN P<0.001 respectively). The most pronounced increment i
n IL-8 serum levels was observed in mes PGN patients (P<0.0001). We co
uld not observe any significant correlation between serum IL-8 levels
and serum creatinine in these patients. Some amount of IL-8 can be det
ected in urine of NHV (50+/-54.5 pg/ml). A significant increase in uri
ne IL-8 was observed only in IgA-N and MN (P<0.005 and P<0.05 respecti
vely), We studied whether urine IL-8 can correlate with the clinical p
icture and outcome of these glomerulonephritis, but we could not obser
ve any correlation between urine IL-8 and urinary sediment (urine RBC,
WBC, cellular cast and proteins). Although not specific of inflammato
ry processes occurring during glomerulonephritis, IL-8 should be consi
dered as another perturbed inflammatory cytokine during glomerulonephr
itis.