Ms. Ichiryu et Ab. Magil, Intraglomerular monocyte infiltration and immune deposits in diffuse lupusglomerulonephritis, AM J KIDNEY, 33(5), 1999, pp. 866-871
Previous studies have suggested that separately, glomerular monocyte (MO) i
nfiltration and persistent glomerular immune deposits have opposite prognos
tic implications in lupus nephritis (LN). To see whether these pathological
variables are inversely related, 37 renal biopsy specimens from 37 patient
s with diffuse proliferative LN were assessed histologically for activity i
ndex, chronicity index, and mean glomerular deposit score per biopsy (depos
it index [DI]); the latter was determined semiquantitatively on a scale of
0 to 4.0, Frozen sections were double immunolabeled for immunoglobulin G (I
gG) and CD68, a marker for MOs, For each glomerulus in each biopsy specimen
, the number of CD68(+) cells was counted and the amount of IgG scored semi
quantitatively on a scale of 0 to 4.0. For each biopsy specimen, the mean n
umber of MOs per glomerular cross-section (MO Index [MOI]) was calculated.
Linear regression analysis showed a moderately strong inverse correlation b
etween individual glomerular IgG deposit score and individual glomerular MO
count (r = -0.447; P < 0,0001), a weaker but significant inverse correlati
on between DI and MOI (r = -0.350; P = 0.0389), and a positive correlation
between the DI determined histologically in each case and the corresponding
DI scored on the immunolabeled sections (r = 0.534; P = 0.0105), The resul
ts indicate that the amount of glomerular deposit and the extent of glomeru
lar MO infiltration are inversely related in LN. (C) 1999 by the National K
idney Foundation, Inc.