REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1617451
Enhancing treatment potential of IL-17 antagonism in lupus nephritis: finding a right partner?
Provisionally accepted
- 1Departments of Rheumatology, Nantong First People's Hospital and Nantong Hospital of Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Nantong, China
- 2Department of Drug Discovery, Huaota Biopharm, Shanghai, China
- 3Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- 4PharmaLegacy Laboratories (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China
- 5Department of Allergy, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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The treatment of lupus nephritis (LN) has been benefited from biologics targeting immune cells and cytokines. IL-17 antagonists have been investigated for their potential in LN treatment, with mixed results from case reports and randomized controlled trials. Here, we provide an overview of the contributions of various immune cells and kidney resident cells to LN pathogenesis and discuss relevant biologics for LN treatment. We then explore our current understanding of IL-17 and IL-17-producing cells in LN pathogenesis and examine the status of IL-17 antagonists in LN treatment. Given the limited success in clinical studies with IL-17 antagonism alone for LN, we discuss possible rational combination biologic therapies, with a focus on the potential combination with antagonism of IL-36s, a cytokine family associated with SLE disease activity. Thus, emerging evidence suggests that dual biologic therapy could enhance disease control in LN.
Keywords: Lupus Nephritis, IL-17, IL-36, biologics, SLE - systemic lupus erthematosus
Received: 24 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Peng, Liu, Ren, Chen and Zhan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaochen Ren, Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, Shanghai, 201203, Shanghai, China
Xiaoxiang Chen, Departments of Rheumatology, Nantong First People's Hospital and Nantong Hospital of Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Nantong, China
Yifan Zhan, Department of Drug Discovery, Huaota Biopharm, Shanghai, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.