Department of Pathology, State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, PR China.
J Nephrol. 2012 Mar-Apr;25(2):255-61. doi: 10.5301/JN.2011.8451.
Apoptosis is involved in glomerular injuries leading to glomerulonephritis. However, the role of renal cellular apoptosis in the pathogenesis and progression of human lupus nephritis (LN) is controversial, and studies on the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, such as FasL, Bax and caspase-3, in different classifications of human LN renal tissues are limited.
Thirty-two samples of LN tissues, including 10 cases of class II and 22 cases of class IV LN, and 5 cases of human normal renal tissues were obtained. Expression of FasL, Bax and caspase-3 proteins in LN tissues was examined by immunohistochemical staining. Apoptotic cells were evaluated by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay.
Expression of FasL, Bax and caspase-3 and TUNEL-positive cells in glomerular parenchymal cells, renal tubular epithelial cells and interstitial inflammatory cells were higher in LN tissues compared with controls. Expression of Bax and caspase-3, but not FasL, was significantly higher in glomeruli of class IV LN than those of class II LN. The apoptotic cell count per glomerulus was significantly higher in class IV LN than class II LN (p<0.05).
Increased apoptosis and the expression of FasL, Bax and caspase-3 in human LN suggest that apoptosis might be induced through pathways of these proteins in the pathogenesis process and play an important role in LN progression through Bax and caspase-3, but not FasL.
细胞凋亡参与了导致肾小球肾炎的肾小球损伤。然而，在人类狼疮肾炎（LN）的发病机制和进展中，肾细胞凋亡的作用是有争议的，并且关于凋亡相关蛋白（如 FasL、Bax 和 caspase-3）在人类 LN 肾组织不同分类中的表达的研究是有限的。
获得了 32 个 LN 组织样本，包括 10 例 II 类和 22 例 IV 类 LN，以及 5 例正常人类肾组织。通过免疫组织化学染色检测 LN 组织中 FasL、Bax 和 caspase-3 蛋白的表达。通过末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶介导的 dUTP 缺口末端标记（TUNEL）检测评估凋亡细胞。
与对照组相比，LN 组织中肾小球实质细胞、肾小管上皮细胞和间质炎症细胞中的 FasL、Bax 和 caspase-3 表达以及 TUNEL 阳性细胞更高。IV 类 LN 肾小球中的 Bax 和 caspase-3 表达，但不是 FasL 表达，明显高于 II 类 LN。IV 类 LN 中每个肾小球的凋亡细胞计数明显高于 II 类 LN（p<0.05）。
人类 LN 中凋亡的增加和 FasL、Bax 和 caspase-3 的表达表明，凋亡可能通过这些蛋白的途径在发病机制中诱导，并通过 Bax 和 caspase-3 而不是 FasL 在 LN 进展中发挥重要作用。
