Abstract.
We measured the urinary levels of active transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 12 healthy controls and 42 patients with various glomerular diseases, including mesangial proliferative (IgA nephritis, Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis, and IgA-negative mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis) and non-proliferative (minimal change nephrotic syndrome and focal glomerulosclerosis) types. Urinary TGF-β, expressed as a ratio to urinary creatinine (ng/mg creatinine), was elevated in patients with IgA nephritis and focal glomerulosclerosis, and was significantly higher than in patients with other types of glomerular diseases and healthy controls. There was a significant correlation between urinary TGF-β levels and the grade of interstitial fibrosis. Among patients with proliferative-type disease, urinary TGF-β was significantly correlated with the grade of mesangial matrix increase and the magnitude of proteinuria. The relationship between urinary TGF-β levels and the immunostaining intensity of TGF-β in the glomeruli was not significant. These results indicated that urinary TGF-β reflects the grade of interstitial fibrosis in glomerular diseases and also the mesangial matrix increase in proliferative-type glomerulonephritis. Measuring TGF-β levels in the urine might be helpful in monitoring patients with some types of glomerular disease.
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Received November 20, 1995; received in revised form October 8, 1996; accepted October 18, 1996
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Murakami, K., Takemura, T., Hino, S. et al. Urinary transforming growth factor-β in patients with glomerular diseases. Pediatr Nephrol 11, 334–336 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004670050289
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004670050289