Objective: to evaluate the potential clinicopathological involvement of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and its relationship with lupus nephritis (LN) through measuring serum and urinary MIF levels.
Methods: A cross-sectional case-control study was carried out on 30 SLE female patients and 30 healthy age-matched females as a control group. SLE activity was assessed by the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index-2000 (SLEDAI-2k) and renal activity was evaluated with the renal-SLEDAI (rSLEDAI-2k). SLE damage was evaluated by the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics/American College of Rheumatology (SLICC/ACR) damage index. Serum MIF (sMIF), urinary MIF (uMIF) levels were assayed and uMIF/creatinine ratio was estimated in all studied subjects.
Results: SLE patients had significantly higher levels of sMIF, uMIF and uMIF/ creatinine ratio than the control group (p < /p>