The concept of glomerular self-defense

The balance between local offense factors and defense machinery determines the fate of tissue injury: progression or resolution. In glomerular researc h, the most interest has been on the offensive side, for example, the roles of leukocytes, platelets, complement, cytokines, eicosanoids, and oxygen r adical intermediates. There has been little focus on the defensive side, wh ich is responsible for the attenuation and resolution of disease. The aim o f this review is to address possible mechanisms of local defense that may b e exerted during glomerular injury. Cytokine inhibitors, proteinase inhibit ors, complement regulatory proteins, anti-inflammatory cytokines, anti-infl ammatory eicosanoids, antithrombotic molecules, and extracellular matrix pr oteins can participate in the extracellular and/or cell surface defense. He at shock proteins, antioxidants, protein phosphatases, and cyclin kinase in hibitors may contribute to the intracellular defense. This article outlines how the glomerulus, when faced with injurious cells or exposed to pathogen ic mediators, defends itself via the intrinsic machinery that is brought in to play in resident glomerular cells.