Study Subjects

The present cross-sectional study recruited 60 primary NS patients from the Nephrology Ward of Imam Reza Hospital (Tabriz, Iran). Blood samples were collected from November 2017 to March 2019. Nephrotic proteinuria was defined by excretion of protein ≥3 g/24 h in urine, as heavy proteinuria. Inclusion criteria for cases were the age range between 20 and 60, primary NS, and normal urinary system without any obstruction. Patients with secondary NS causes such as lupus, diabetes, amyloidosis, viral infection, and drug-related NS were not included. The exclusion criteria for cases were inflammatory diseases, diabetes, a history of cancer, severe bacterial infection, serologic positivity for CMV, HBV, HIV, HCV and BK viruses, obstruction in the renal system, overlap syndrome, any other glomerulopathy, severe organ failure, autoimmune disorder and those with ESRD under dialysis. Histologic detail of patients was collected from the renal biopsy findings. Further, a group of healthy volunteers (n= 24) with no clinical history of kidney disease was also allocated as controls. Inclusion criteria for normal controls were matched-age and -gender with the cases and having normal kidney function (normal serum creatinine and urine analysis).