The Characteristics and Significance of Locally Infiltrating B Cells in Lupus Nephritis and Their Association with Local BAFF Expression

Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of the LN patients.

	LN-B cell; (𝑛=35)	LN-non-B cell; (𝑛=27)	𝑃 value
Sex (male/female)	3/32	1/26	0.626
Age (years)	33±11	29±11	0.171
Prednisone dosage (mg/d)	30±15	29±14	0.514
Immunosuppressive drug*
Cyclophosphamide	18	15	0.801
Azathioprine	6	4	1.000
Mycophenolate mofetil	9	8	0.779
SLE duration (months)	56±54	49±50	0.605
LN duration (months)	22±36	19±34	0.750
SLEDAI	13±6	11±5	0.221
Proteinuria (g/24 h)	3.93±3.88	1.76±1.34	0.010
Blood urea nitrogen (mmol/L)	9.41±7.51	5.14±1.81	0.006
Serum creatinine (μmol/L)	80.60±40.35	51.78±10.35	0.001
Serum C3 (g/L)	0.49±0.21	0.53±0.20	0.443
Serum C4 (g/L)	0.095±0.061	0.094±0.060	0.958
Autoimmune antibody (positive/negative)
Anti-dsDNA^†	24/7	16/8	0.543
ANA^‡	35/0	27/0
Anti-Sm antibody	15/20	8/17	0.432
Anti-RNP antibody	16/19	14/13	0.798
Antinucleosome antibody	5/30	5/22	0.735

∗One patient took cyclosporin A during the study.
†Anti-dsDNA antibodies were not detected in 4 patients in the LN-B-cell group and three patients in LN-non-B-cell group.
‡No statistical significance.
SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus; LN: lupus nephritis; SLEDAI: systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index; anti-dsDNA: antidouble-stranded DNA antibody; ANA: antinuclear antibody; anti-RNP antibody: anti ribonucleoprotein antibody.