Hyperoxaluria-Associated Cytokines Dysregulation in Women with Recurrent Pyelonephritis

The purpose of the study was to investigate the immune response in patients with recurrent pyelonephritis depending on the presence of hyperoxaluria.The observational cross-sectional study involved 64 women with recurrent pyelonephritis. The patients’ immune response was evaluated by determination of serum concentrations of interleukins (IL) -4, -17, -18, -23, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1). Depending on the presence of hyperoxaluria (urinary oxalate excretion was more than 0.45 mmol per day), the patients were allocated into 2 groups: the women with hyperoxaluria were included to group I (n = 35) and the patients with normal levels of oxalate excretion were included to group II (n = 29). The control group consisted of 25 practically healthy donors.The mean age in the patient population was 31.6 ± 7.7. The average number of pyelonephritis recurrence was 6.4 ± 1.9 per year. We identified a moderate direct correlation between the levels of the urinary oxalate excretion and the number of pyelonephritis recurrences per year (r = 0.71, p < 0.0001) and the inverse strong correlation between oxaluria and GFR level (r = 0.75, p < 0.0001). The patients with hyperoxaluria had increased synthesis of the blood concentration of TNF-α, MCP-1, IL -4, -17 and 23. Our results have provided preliminary evidence that hyperoxaluria is associated with increased serum levels of IL-4, -17, -23, MCP-1 and TNF-α. The larger-scale studies are needed for further confirmation of our findings