Apoptosis and PCNA (Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen) in lupus nephritis and MPNG (Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis)

ABSTRACT APOPTOSIS AND PCNA ( PROLIFERATING CELL NUCLEAR ANTIGEN) IN LUPUS NEPHRITIS AND MPGN (MEMBRANOPROLIFERATIVE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS) Apoptosis is a type of cell death that is different than necrosis and well defined in recent years. Apoptosis continues in the organism from embriyo to death. Role of apoptosis in renal diseases is not clearly understood. PCNA is a polypeptide a found in every tissue during cell division. It is a marker of proliferation. In our study, we aimed to determine PCNA and apoptosis levels in renal biopsies of patients with lupus nephritis and MPGN. We followed the patients for one year time and we observed the relationship between the clinical course and apoptosis and PCNA levels. We also aimed to observe apoptosis levels in nefrectomy materials in which there is no glomerulonephritis but done due to trauma. Biopsy specimens of patients with the diagnosis of lupus nephritis and MPGN in Çukurova University Nephrology Department were examined and 2 1 patients with lupus nephritis and 1 8 patients with MPGN patients included in the study. We collected the clinical observation of all patients from for the last year clinical files. We evaluated activity and chronicity indexes of cases with lupus nephritis. Biopsies were treated with PCNA dye and Apoptag dye for apoptosis (with TUNEL method). We determined the levels in glomerules, tubules and interstitium. When we considered the two groups of diseases, apoptosis and PCNA levels weren't significantly different. In both groups, but more in lupus nephritis, proteinuria decreased during the clinical course in patients with high PCNA levels. Progression to end stage renal diseae is seen in MPGN group. In lupus nephritis group PCNA levels were paralel with activity indexes in tubules and interstitium. We didn't observe any apoptotic cell in trauma cases. As a conclusion, PCNA levels increase in proliferative nephritis and PCNA levels are important for determination of prognosis of MPGN and lupus nephritis patients. Key words: Lupus nephritis, MPGN, apoptosis, PCNA