Urine Biomarkers – immune cells indicate kidney inflammation

A serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is kidney inflammation. These publications show that cells of the immune system in the urine indicate the local inflammation of the kidney. These cells cannot be found in the blood. Using a special type of cell measurement, mass cytometry, the cells from the urine were examined in detail (publication 1). It was shown that they indicate the type and severity of the inflammation. They also indicate the start of kidney transplant rejection (publication 2). Further analysis will now clarify whether these cells from the urine also predict how well SLE patients respond to immunosuppressive therapies.