Mathematical model of renal interstitial fibrosis
2014
The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease that can also affect the kidneys. The most common kidney manifestation of SLE is lupus nephritis (LN). LN occurs when autoantibodies combine with self-antigens to form immune complexes that accumulate in the glomeruli, the filtering units of the kidney, causing inflammation and fibrosis in the tubulointerstitial compartment of the kidney. Unfortunately, inflammation and fibrosis can only be assessed by invasive kidney biopsy. In the present study, the researchers attempted to create a mathematical model for the progression of inflammation to fibrosis. The model was validated by showing that the expression levels of two biomarkers in LN patients at three different stages of chronic kidney injury matched the levels predicted by the model. To demonstrate how the model can be used clinically to diagnose and monitor tubulointerstitial fibrosis, the effect of treatment with anti-inflammatory or anti-fibrosis drugs on the progression of damage was investigated. The data shows that this model can be used to monitor treatments in LN.
Mathematical model of renal interstitial fibrosis
Avner Friedman
Added on: 10-28-2021
[1] https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/09/10/1413970111[2] https://data.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset/700397b2-edd7-4ed6-86f7-fc1b164ed432
