| Abstract | Background: Glomerulonephritis refers to a collection of primary and secondary renal disorders characterized by inflammation within the glomeruli. Glomerular diseases remain the most common worldwide cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD).
Despite extensive investigations, the mechanism of the initial glomerular injury and disease progression remains mostly unknown. In addition; the efforts to stop or even to slow the progression of chronic renal insufficiency are still unsuccessful.
Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in cell – cell and cell – cell matrix adhesion has increased rapidly in the past decade due to the immense clinical relevance of the adhesion molecules involved in such mechanisms.
Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) are two members of immunoglobulin- like superfamily of the cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), which are normally expressed by endothelial cells. ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 are also expressed and released by activated T-lymphocytes and macrophages; therefore their increase may also reflect local immune activation.
Aim of the work: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of cell adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) in the pathogenesis and
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disease progression of primary glomerular diseases and to correlate between their expression and the expression of markers that indicate locally activated cellular immune reactions including HLA-DR Antigen, CD3, and CD68.
Patients and methods: The present study was carried out on sixty patients with primary glomerulonephritis, who were subjected to full history taking in addition to clinical, laboratory and radiological investigations. Renal biopsies taken from these patients were examined histopathologically and immunohistochemically for the expression of
ICAM-1, VCAM-1, HLA-DR, CD3 and CD68 compared to the expression of such markers in the control specimens (Five specimens of normal renal tissue).
Conclusions: The results of the present study revealed statistically significant over-expression of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, HLA-DR Antigen, CD3 and CD68 in the different types of primary glomerulonephritis included in this study compared to their expression in normal renal tissue. There was strong positive correlation between the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 and the expression of HLA-DR Antigen, CD3 and CD68 in the studied cases. So, cell adhesion molecules (ICAM-1 and VCAM-1) proved to be a reliable factor in the pathogenesis of different types of primary glomerulonephritis, which gives an idea about the important and promising benefit of the use of anti-adhesion molecule therapy in the treatment of different forms of glomerulonephritis. |