The significance of biomarkers of inflammation in predicting the activity of Lupus nephritis.

BACKGROUND: Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most severe manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). There are increased studies examining the role of different markers that would facilitate diagnosis, LN activity monitoring, relapse occurrence, and the right time to introduce maintenance therapy. We aimed to examine the importance of determining the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic immuneinflammatory index (SII) and systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI) in LN, comparing their significance with other standard parameters of active disease.

METHODS: The clinical examination included 66 patients (34 with active and 32 with LN in remission) and 23 healthy controls. The investigated parameters were CRP, CBC, creatinine, albumin, GFR, C3, C4, ANA, anti-ds DNA Ab, in urine: sediment analysis, SLEDAI/r, proteinuria 24h and Up/cre. We determined the derived markers: NLR, PLR, SIRI, and SII and their correlation with other parameters of active disease.