We showed that U-sCD163 represent a biomarker for active LN reflecting the glomerular inflammation. Thus, the detection of U-sCD163 could be useful for following the disease activity and monitoring the response to treatment.
Although kidney biopsy is the gold standard method for LN diagnosis, non-invasive biomarkers are needed for the routine patient management. Macrophage surface biomarkers have been proposed as biomarkers of LN activity. In contrast to U-sCD11b, we showed that U-sCD163 levels are elevated in patients with active LN compared to patients with inactive LN. Our results are in agreement with recent studies in which U-sCD163 levels were elevated in patients with active LN15,16. Consistently, we showed a correlation between U-sCD163 levels and the percent of glomeruli with active lesions (or renal activity score) and markers of glomerular lesions such as UPCR and active urinary sediment.
To better analyze the involvement of U-sCD163 in the kidney disease progression and in the associated pro-inflammatory response, we established a PIL nephritis mouse model and performed a longitudinal follow-up analysis to investigate the association of U-sCD163 levels and the disease evolution, with or without treatment. Importantly, the use of murine model will open the possibility for further interventional studies to better understand the mechanism of action of sCD163 which remains unclear in LN. The PIL mouse model is one of the few induced lupus models that can progress to glomerulonephritis, which allows to follow the development of glomerulonephritis and study the impact of therapeutic interventions in murine LN17. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to investigate the levels of U-sCD163 in both human and murine LN. After disease induction, we showed an increase of U-sCD163 in association with IgG anC3 immune complexes deposits, even at a very early stage, together with an association with the augmentation of serum inflammatory markers including IFN-α, CRP and TNF-α. Moreover, we showed that treatment with HCQ, a well-known as immune modulator18, could prevent the elevation of U-sCD163 levels, in parallel with the reduction of IgG and C3 glomerular deposits. Interestingly, the level of proteinuria, which is another non-invasive, usually applied as marker of kidney damage, was not predictive of glomerular inflammation, contrary to U-sCD163.
Thus, we can propose U-sCD163 as a biomarker reflecting the glomerular inflammation. The interest of U-sCD163 was previously underlined by the fact that cells expressing CD163 are the most abundant cells detected in urine from LN patients compared to healthy donors15. In addition, transcriptomic analyses showed that the macrophage infiltrate in LN kidneys is predominantly composed of CD163+cells in active crescentic glomerulonephritis, proliferative glomerular lesions, and areas of tubulointerstitial injury19,20. In addition to macrophages, a variety of cells express CD163, to a lesser extent, including monocytes21, neutrophils22, dendritic cells 23 and non-myeloid cells 24. All of them have been implicated as cellular key players in the pathogenesis of LN25,26. Therefore, the high level of U-sCD163 observed in active LN patients could also be related to kidney infiltration by these cells’ populations. Nevertheless, our data led us to propose U-sCD163 as a biomarker reflecting the glomerular inflammation. Membrane CD163 is often associated with a functional polarization profile of macrophages, called M2 type, corresponding to an immunoregulatory profile27. One can speculate that the progression of the glomerular inflammation is accompanied by a conversion of macrophages to the CD163 + phenotype and that urinary soluble CD163 may be cleaved in response to inflammatory stimuli including the PAMP lipopolysaccharide28,29. In agreement, a marked increase in kidney cytokine levels were previously reported in human LN that stimulate IgG and type I IFN production and macrophage differentiation to CD163 + 30. Taken together, our data indicate that U-sCD163 levels may reflect macrophage-dependent glomerular inflammation in LN, through the shedding of this protein from the surface of cells infiltrating glomeruli directly into the urine. We thus propose that U-sCD163 could be a promising non-invasive biomarker of LN, to detect kidney inflammation, monitor disease activity and response to treatment.
In conclusion, we propose U-sCD163, reflecting glomerular inflammation in LN, as a non-invasive biomarker for monitoring the disease activity. Although longitudinal studies on a larger cohort of patients with LN at different treatment time-points are needed, U-sCD163 could be useful to monitor response to treatment in patients.