MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Inflammation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1624850
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging Therapies in Glomerulonephritis: Focus on Complement Regulators and Novel TargetsView all 3 articles
Breaking the Cycle: Immune Complexes, Complement Activation, and Novel Immunotherapies in Lupus Nephritis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, Jilin, China, Jilin, China
- 2Jilin Province People’s Hospital, Changchun, Jilin, China, Jilin, China
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Lupus nephritis (LN), a severe manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is driven by immune complex deposition and complement activation, resulting in glomerular inflammation and podocyte injury. Beyond being passive targets, podocytes actively modulate renal immunity through cytokine secretion and antigen presentation. Recent advances in urinary biomarkers such as NGAL, TWEAK, and MCP-1 and composite indices like the Renal Activity Index for Lupus (RAIL) offer dynamic and noninvasive monitoring of disease activity. Immunotherapy has transitioned from nonspecific immunosuppression to targeted biologics, with agents such as belimumab and telitacicept improving outcomes by modulating B-cell function. Additionally, emerging therapies including bortezomib and daratumumab demonstrate efficacy in refractory LN through plasma cell depletion. This review summarizes current immunological insights, biomarker innovations, and immunotherapy strategy to support precision medicine and improve long-term renal prognosis in LN.
Keywords: Lupus Nephritis, biomarkers, Immunotherapy, Podocyte injury, targeted therapy, systemic lupus erythematosus
Received: 08 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dong, Wu, Liu, Yang, Ma, Guo, Lan and Lu. 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:
YueJiao Lan, 13843225685@163.com
Xiaodan Lu, luxiaodan@ccsfu.edu.cn
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