Decreased TIM-3 mRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from nephropathy patients

Increasing evidence shows that TIM-1 and TIM-3 influence chronic autoimmune diseases, and their expression levels in immune cells from nephritic patients are still unknown. Real-time transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to determine expression levels of TIM-1 and TIM-3 mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 36 patients with minimal change glomerulopathy (MCG), 65 patients with lupus nephritis (LN), 78 patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN), 55 patients with membranous nephropathy (MN), 22 patients with crescentic glomerulonephritis (CGN), 26 patients with anaphylactoid purpura nephritis (APN), and 63 healthy controls. TIM-3 mRNA expression significantly decreased in PBMCs from nephritic patients (LN, P < 0.0001; MCG, P < 0.0001; MN, P = 0.0031; CGN, P = 0.0464; IgAN, P = 0.0002; APN, P = 0.0392) compared with healthy controls. In contrast, there was no significant difference in TIM-1 mRNA expression between the patients and the healthy controls. Our results suggest that insufficient expression of TIM-3 mRNA may be involved in the pathogenesis of nephropathy.