Expression and clinical significance of the NEK7-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the expression of the NEK7-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), as well as its clinical significance.

Methods: A total of 38 SLE patients and 33 healthy volunteers were recruited. Real time PCR and western blotting were performed to determine mRNA and protein levels of , NLRP3 inflammasome components (, , and ), and downstream cytokines ( and ) in PBMCs from the two groups. ELISA was used to detect serum levels of and . The same methods were used to detect changes in the above indices in the 25 SLE patients after treatment. Correlations between clinical and laboratory parameters were also analyzed.

Results: Compared to those in healthy controls, levels of and were lower in SLE patients; however, , , and were expressed at higher levels. mRNA levels of , , and were inversely correlated with disease activity, whereas a positive correlation was observed with and . After treatment, mRNA levels of and increased, whereas , , and decreased significantly. Compared to those in SLE patients without renal damage, patients with lupus nephritis (LN) exhibited lower mRNA levels of , , and but higher levels of , , and .

Conclusions: Results indicate that the expression of the NEK7-NLRP3 complex might play a protective role in the pathogenesis of SLE and is inversely correlated with disease activity. A positive effect of on was observed, and the low expression of in SLE patients might be related to the low expression of . Overexpression of in SLE patients mediates the maturation and release of and , and contributes to the pathogenesis of SLE and LN.