Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease involving multiple organs of the body. Lupus nephritis is one of the most serious organ manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus. Vimentin, a member of the intermediate filament protein family, is involved in the pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases, including lupus nephritis. More and more studies have shown that vimentin plays an important role in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis, and has an important influence on the disease development, treatment and prognosis of lupus nephritis. This review focuses on the structure, function and post-translational modification of vimentin, the relationship between vimentin and the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis, and the significance of vimentin expression levels in renal tissues, serum and urine, in order to provide theoretical basis for future mechanism research and clinical application.
Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in the treatment of proliferative lupus nephritis. Methods We searched CBM (November 1979 to February 2006), Chinese Cochrane Centre Database (2005), The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2005), MEDLINE (November 1966 to February 2006) and EMBASE (1975 to February 2006) for randomize controlled trials. Data were extracted and analyzed using The Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan 4.2.7. Results Nine randomize controlled trials involving 512 patients met the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis showed that the total clinical effective rate and complete remission rate were not significantly higher for MMF than for cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, or both. Renal survival rate and relapse rate of MMF were not significantly different from those for cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, or both. Patient survival rate and safety of MMF were significantly improved compared with cyclophosphamide, azathioprine, or both. Conclusion More large-scale multi-center randomized trials are needed to investigate the role of MMF in the treatment of proliferative lupus nephritis.
In recent years, with the improvement and popularization of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) detection technology, more and more patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) have been tested positive for serum ANCA. The clinical value of ANCA is still unclear, and there is a lack of consensus on diagnosis and treatment strategies. This article reviews the clinical and pathological characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment features of IgAN patients with serum ANCA positivity through literature reading and analysis, aiming to provide a reference for standardized diagnosis and individualized management of this type of patient.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis (HSPN). MethodsDatabases such as PubMed, EMbase, CENTRAL, VIP, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data were electronically searched for comprehensively collecting the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy and safety of MMF for HSPN from inception to December, 2013. Two reviewers independently screened studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data and evaluated the methodological quality of the included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. ResultsA total of 10 RCTs involving 426 patients (231 in the trial group and 195 in the control group) were included. The trial group was treated with MMF and corticosteroids, and the control group was treated with corticosteroids monotherapy or combined with cyclophosphamide (CTX), leflunomide (LEF), or azathioprine (AZA). The results of meta-analysis showed that, as for efficacy, no significant difference was found between the two groups after six-mouth treatment (OR=1.36, 95%CI 0.67 to 2.73, P=0.85), while after twelve-mouth treatment, MMF was superior to CTX with a significant difference (OR=6.58, 95%CI 2.45 to 17.33, P=0.002). In addition, the efficacy of MMF was still superior to the azathioprine group, but not better than either LEF or prednisone monotherapy. Lower incidence of side effects were found in the MMF group, compared with the CTX group (OR=0.25, 95%CI 0.13 to 0.45, P < 0.000 01) and the prednisone monotherapy group (OR=0.26, 95%CI, 0.09 to 0.79, P=0.02), while there was no significant difference between the MMF group and the LEF group in side effects. ConclusionBased on the current evidence, the efficacy of MMF for HSPN is better than CTX, and its side effects are less than those of CTX and prednisone.