Objective To investigate the significance of interleukin-13 (IL-13) in patients with active lupus nephritis (LN).Methods Ten healthy volunteers and 16 patients with active LN were included in this study. The protein level of IL-13 in plasma was examined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and gene expression of IL-13 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Expression of IL-13 mRNA in renal tissue was studied by in situ hybridization (ISH) techniques.Results The level of IL-13 in plasma and the expression of IL-13 mRNA in PBMCs were significantly higher in LN patients than those in the controls ( P ＜ 0.001 ). Increased expression of IL-13 mRNA was detected in renal tissue of active LN patients compared to those in the controls ( P ＜ 0.001 ). Analysis of the linear correlation indicated that the level of IL-13 mRNA in the tubulointerstitial area in patients with active LN correlated with the concentration of serum creatinine (Scr), the glomerular activity index (GAl),the activity index of tubulointerstitium, and the level of serum C3 ( P ＜ 0.05 for each).Conclusion The elevation of IL-13 may play an important role inthe molecular pathogenesis of active LN.
OBJECTIVE: To detect DNA and chromosomes instabilities during the progression of tumors and screen new molecular markers coupled to putative or unknown oncogenes and/or tumor suppressor genes. METHODS: Five kinds of tumors, in a total of 128 specimens, were analyzed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) PCR. Bands representing instabilities were recovered, purified, and cloned, labeled as probes for Southern and Northern blot analysis and DNA sequencing. RESULTS: Sample 5 and 3 of the gastric cancer tissues showed the highest genomic changes and the average detectability in five cancers was up to at least 40% (42.2% - 49.4%). There were significant differences in the ability of each primer to detect genomic instability, which ranged from 27% (primer 8) to 68% (primer 2). Band B is a single copy fragment, and was found to be an allelic loss in gastric and colon cancers. It is a novel sequence and was registered in GenBank with Accession Number AF151005. Further analysis revealed that it might be part of a cis-regulatory element of a new tumor suppressor gene, containing a promoter of cis-action 'CACA' box, an enhancer of 'GATA' family and a start codon. CONCLUSIONS: It was impossible or difficult to get great achievements for cancer treatments with the procedure of gene therapy only to one oncogene or one tumor suppressor gene because the extensive DNA variations occurred during the progression of tumor. RAPD assay connected with other techniques was a good tool for the detection of genomic instabilities and direct screening of some new molecular markers related to tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes.
