Value of Urinary Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin versus Conventional Biomarkers in Predicting Response to Treatment of Active Lupus Nephritis

Table 3

Baseline characteristics and laboratory data of different groups (classified according to renal response to induction).

Variable	Complete response (N = 13)	Partial response (N = 19)	Nonresponse (N = 8)	F	value
	Mean/SD	Mean/SD	Mean/SD
Baseline SLEDAI	18.92 ± 4.21	18.74 ± 5.04	22.50 ± 3.82	2.090	0.14
Baseline rSLEDAI	13.54 ± 3.84	13.89 ± 3.09	16.00 ± .00	1.769	0.19
Activity index in biopsy	7.38 ± 1.45	7.47 ± 1.74	7.88 ± 1.36	0.257	0.78
Chronicity index in biopsy	4.08 ± 0.76	4.63 ± 1.01	6.13 ± 1.25	10.870	<0.001^bc
Hemoglobin	10.62 ± 1.68 g/dL	9.37 ± 1.39 g/dL	9.95 ± 0.58 g/dL	3.131	0.06
Serum albumin	2.31 ± 0.37 g/dL	2.73 ± 0.32 g/dL	2.59 ± 0.24 g/dL	6.488	0.004^a
C3	68.23 ± 24.93 mg/dL	64.58 ± 18.04 mg/dL	55.25 ± 11.26 mg/dL	1.108	0.34
C4	16.54 ± 5.46 mg/dL	17.05 ± 4.08 mg/dL	16.38 ± 4.47 mg/dL	0.080	0.92
BUN	38.54 ± 8.85 mg/dL	49.63 ± 6.17 mg/dL	52.13 ± 4.97 mg/dL	13.011	<0.001^ab
Creatinine	1.76 ± 0.97 mg/dL	2.69 ± 0.57 mg/dL	3.57 ± 0.52 mg/dL	16.349	<0.001^abc
eGFR	63.69 ± 36.07 mL/min/1.73 m^2	32.95 ± 7.57 mL/min/1.73 m^2	26.38 ± 4.37 mL/min/1.73 m^2	10.607	<0.001^abc
Pr/Cr ratio	3.95 ± 1.65 mg/mg	2.30 ± 0.96 mg/mg	2.57 ± 0.78 mg/mg	7.549	0.002^a
UNGAL	14.48 ± 2.99 ng/mL	34.49 ± 4.09 ng/mL	62.07 ± 14.44 ng/mL	111.428	<0.001^abc

One-way ANOVA test (post hoc test: ^acomplete response vs. partial response/^bcomplete response vs. nonresponse/^cpartial response vs. nonresponse): significant at 0.05 level. SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SLEDAI, SLE disease activity index; rSLEDAI, renal SLE disease activity index; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate; BUN, blood urea nitrogen; C3, complement component 3; C4, complement component 4; Pr/Cr ratio, protein-to-creatinine ratio; UNGAL, urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin.