Maurizio Bruschi, Alice Bonanni, Andrea Petretto, Augusto Vaglio, Federico Pratesi, Laura Santucci, Paola Migliorini, Roberta Bertelli, Maricla Galetti, Silvana Belletti, Lorenzo Cavagna, Gabriella Moroni, Franco Franceschini, Micaela Fredi, Giulia Pazzola, Landino Allegri, Renato Alberto Sinico, Giampaola Pesce, Marcello Bagnasco, Angelo Manfredi, Giuseppe A Ramirez, Paola Ramoino, Paolo Bianchini, Francesco Puppo, Francesca Pupo, Simone Negrini, Federico Mattana, Giacomo Emmi, Giacomo Garibotto, Domenico Santoro, Francesco Scolari, Angelo Ravelli, Angela Tincani, Paolo Cravedi, Stefano Volpi, Giovanni Candiano, Gian Marco Ghiggeri
OBJECTIVE: Neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) expose modified antigens for autoantibodies in vasculitis. Little is known about levels and removal pathways of NET in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), especially in lupus nephritis (LN). We determined circulating levels and defined NET removal in large subsets of patients with incident SLE (iSLE), some of whom had new-onset nephritis. METHODS: Serum levels of NET (ELISA), DNase1/DNase1L3 (ELISA), and DNase activity (functional assay) were determined in 216 patients with iSLE [103 had incident LN (iLN)], in 50 patients with other primary glomerulonephritis, and in healthy controls...
March 2020: Journal of Rheumatology