Serum tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (sTWEAK) and IL-17 levels are associated with disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus patients with and without nephritis

Introduction: lupus nephritis (ln) is one of the most severe signs of systemic lupus erythematosus(sle) and rapid diagnosis of kidney damage remains an important concern for ln.objectives: the aim of this study was to investigate the association of the serum levels of tumornecrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (tweak) and interleukin 17 (il-17) with sleseverity, renal involvement, and other clinical manifestations in lupus patients.patients and methods: in order to determine a better biomarker for the detection of renal damage,this study evaluated the ability of serum tweak (stweak) and il-17 in lupus patients with(n = 25) and without (n = 25) nephritis and healthy controls (n = 39). moreover, it compared thelevels of these cytokines with disease activity and chronicity as well as traditional serum markersincluding complement c3 and c4, creatinine, and proteinuria in lupus patients.results: increased levels of stweak and il-17 were observed in sle and ln groups compared tohealthy controls and non-ln groups, respectively. significant positive associations were observedbetween serum tweak and il-17 levels and systemic lupus erythematosus disease activityindex (sledai), proteinuria, nephritis activity index, and some clinical manifestations (p < 0.05).discriminating the ability of the studied cytokines were not better than the utility of any markersindividually.conclusion: the serum levels of tweak and il-17 in the sle and ln groups were significantlyhigher than the control group and both markers were indicative of the renal disease severity;therefore, they could possibly indicate renal involvement in the lupus patients.