期刊名称：Egyptian Journal of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
印刷版ISSN：1687-1642
电子版ISSN：2314-8934
出版年度：2011
卷号：9
期号：1
页码：41-47
出版社：Egyptian Society of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
摘要：Dendritic cells (DCs) represent one of the most extensivelystudied topics in immunology, because of their central role in the inductionand regulation of adaptive immunity, and because of their therapeuticpotential for manipulating immune responses.Objectives: To evaluate circulating DC levels in pediatric patients withidiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS) and its relation to disease activity inthese patients.Methods: Fifteen nephrotic patients in relapse (proteinuria>40mg/m2/hour,hypoalbuminemia, and edema) before initiating steroid therapy (Group I),and another15 nephrotic patients in remission after withdrawal of steroidtherapy (Group II) were compared to 15 age- and sex- matched healthychildren. Besides clinical evaluation and routine laboratory investigations ofnephrotic syndrome, circulating DCs were measured by flowcytometry.Results: Circulating DC count was lower in nephrotic patients in bothproteinuria and remission groups [(48.89±13.52) and (64.64±7.69)X106/liter respectively] than in the control group (78.54±9.8) X106/liter withhighly significant statistical difference (p<0.001), and lower in proteinuriagroup than the remission group with highly significant statistical difference(p<0.001). There was a positive correlation between DC count and serumalbumin (moderate association) (p=0.002) and a negative correlationbetween DC count and urine protein /creatinine ratio (strong association)(p=0.001).Conclusion: Nephrotic syndrome was associated with decreased number ofcirculating DCs and the decrease was more apparent in patients with activedisease. The positive correlation between DC counts and total protein, andserum albumin, and the negative correlation between DC count and urineprotein/creatinine ratio point to the link between the decrease in DC countand the severity of the disease process.
