Lead Sponsor

The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University

Age

18 - 60 years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

•Meeting the 1997 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria of SLE.
•age 18-60 years.
•of either sex and of any ethnicity.
•Lupus nephritis (LN) group: (1) Receiving more than 6 months of regular treatment, 24-hour urine protein ≥ 1.0 g, serum creatinine ≥1.5 mg/dL; (2) renal biopsy: class III, IV or V LN included, and class VI excluded.
•After conventional treatment (glucocorticoid therapy and immunosuppressive drugs) prior to grouping, SLEDAI scores ≥ 10.
•Receiving 12 months of treatment while using birth control.
•Provision of informed consent.

•Poor blood pressure control by drug treatment (≥ 160/100 mmHg)
•Abnormal hepatic function (a 3-fold increase in alanine aminotransferase level relative to normal liver).
•Renal failure (glomerular filtration rate \< 15 mL/min/1.73 m2).
•Severe heart and lung failure, or injury to other important organs
•Uncontrollable infection.
•Having not taken biological agents for 6 months.
•Pregnant or lactating women, or those women who are trying to get pregnant or those men who are trying to make their partners pregnant.