Background. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is a proinflammatory factor involved in the pathogenesis of immunoglobulin A vasculitis (IgAV). The association between serum TNF-α and disease severity in adult patients with IgAV nephritis (IgAV-N) has been inadequately evaluated. Methods. Serum TNF-α was measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay in 53 renal biopsy-proved IgAV-N patients, 53 healthy controls, and 53 IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients. The correlations of clinicopathologic parameters of IgAV-N patients with serum TNF-α were analyzed. Results. In this cross-sectional study, the median age of IgAV-N patients was 29 (25-37) years, and 67.9% were female. Serum TNF-α was significantly higher in the IgAV-N group than in the healthy group [7.4 (5.7-9.4) pg/mL vs. 5.9 (5.0, 7.1) pg/mL, ], but comparable with sex, age, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) grade-matched IgAN patients. Serum creatinine () and serum cystatin C () were positively correlated with serum TNF-α level, while albumin () and eGFR () were negatively correlated with serum TNF-α level. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that eGFR () was an independent clinical predictor of serum TNF-α. Patients with higher pathological classification grade also had higher serum TNF-α. Conclusions. Serum TNF-α is associated with renal function and the pathological classification of adult patients with IgAV-N. TNF-α is a potential biomarker for the assessment of IgAV-N severity.

中文翻译：

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血清 TNF-α 水平与成人免疫球蛋白 A 血管炎肾炎患者的疾病严重程度相关

背景。肿瘤坏死因子-α (TNF -α ) 是一种促炎因子，参与免疫球蛋白 A 血管炎 (IgAV) 的发病机制。成人 IgAV 肾炎 (IgAV-N) 患者血清 TNF -α与疾病严重程度之间的相关性尚未得到充分评估。方法。通过化学发光免疫测定法在 53 名肾活检证实的 IgAV-N 患者、53 名健康对照和 53 名 IgA 肾病 (IgAN) 患者中测量血清 TNF -α 。分析IgAV-N患者临床病理参数与血清TNF- α的相关性。结果. 在这项横断面研究中，IgAV-N 患者的中位年龄为 29（25-37）岁，其中 67.9% 为女性。IgAV-N 组的血清 TNF -α显着高于健康组 [7.4 (5.7-9.4) pg/mL vs. 5.9 (5.0, 7.1) pg/mL,]，但与性别、年龄和估计肾小球滤过率 (eGFR) 分级匹配的 IgAN 患者相当。血清肌酐（)和血清胱抑素 C ()与血清 TNF -α水平呈正相关，而白蛋白 ()和 eGFR ()与血清 TNF -α水平呈负相关。多元线性回归分析显示，eGFR ()是血清 TNF -α的独立临床预测因子。病理分类等级较高的患者血清TNF -α也较高。结论。血清 TNF -α与 IgAV-N 成年患者的肾功能和病理分类有关。TNF -α是评估 IgAV-N 严重程度的潜在生物标志物。