Abstract
In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between renal P-glycoprotein (rP-gp) expression and response to corticosteroid therapy in childhood nephrotic syndrome (NS). Expression of rP-gp was evaluated prior to non-steroid immunosuppressive therapy in children with NS (Group 1), prior to any treatment in children with immunoglobulin (Ig)A nephropathy (Group 2), and during renal donation in healthy adults (Group 3); mesangial proliferation was evaluated in Groups 1 and 2. Total dosage of steroid was calculated in Group 1. The ratio of rP-gp (+) glomeruli was higher in Group 1 than Group 3 (33.8 ± 27.1% vs 4.7 ± 4.6%, p=0.000). There were no rP-gp (+) glomeruli in Group 2. The rate of mesangial proliferation was similar in Groups 1 and 2. There was no statistically significant correlation between rP-gp expression and total steroid dosage (r=0.455, p=0.160). Our findings showed that rP-gp expression is increased in patients receiving steroid therapy for NS regardless of the cumulative steroid dosage and mesangial cell proliferation.
Copyright and license
Copyright © 2013 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.