Serum interleukin-18 in children with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome

Introduction: idiopathic nephrotic syndrome has been considered a cell-mediated immunity disorder with t cell dysfunction.objectives: the purpose of this study was to investigate immunologic dysfunction in children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (ssns) by evaluating serum interleukin-18 (il-18).patients and methods: a total of 30 children with ssns (n=20 males, n=10 females), aged 1–11 years were enrolled in this study. all of them were treated with steroids at the time of study. serum il-18 was compared during both active and remission phases of nephrotic syndrome. in addition, correlation between serum il-18 with urine protein and serum biochemical variables was evaluated.results: mean serum il-18 was higher in the active phase, and decreased significantly post-steroid treatment (4.87±1.43 ng/l versus 2.39± 0.94 ng/l; p = 0.01). it had no correlation with other variables.conclusion: according to increased serum il-18 level, dysregulation of type-1 and type-2 mediated immune reactions is suggested in children with ssns.