Serum IL-18 Is Closely Associated with Renal Tubulointerstitial Injury and Predicts Renal Prognosis in IgA Nephropathy

<table>In patients respond to corticosteroid therapy (R group), sIL-18 decreased significantly both in responders and nonresponders (<svg height="11.375" id="M38" style="vertical-align:-0.1638pt" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 58.712502 11.375" width="58.712502" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,.062,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x1D443"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,15.582,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x3C"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,30.286,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x30"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,38.446,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x2E"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,42.321,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x30"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,50.481,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x35"></use></g>
</svg>) while NRs patients showed much higher baseline IL-18 levels (<svg height="11.375" id="M39" style="vertical-align:-0.1638pt" version="1.1" viewbox="0 0 58.712502 11.375" width="58.712502" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,.062,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x1D443"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,15.582,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x3D"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,30.286,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x30"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,38.446,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x2E"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,42.321,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x30"></use></g><g transform="matrix(.017,-0,0,-.017,50.481,11.112)"><use xlink:href="#x32"></use></g>
</svg>).</table>

Mediators of Inflammation

fig2

Figure 2

Figure 2: Serum IL-18 Is Closely Associated with Renal Tubulointerstitial Injury and Predicts Renal Prognosis in IgA Nephropathy 