Background Renal involvement often results in long-term morbidity in childhood Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (cSLE). Neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) has been shown to be a reliable structural biomarker for the early diagnosis of kidney injury in many clinical scenarios.

Objectives This study aimed to detect levels of urinary and serum NGAL and changes in flare and improvement on longitudinal follow up in cSLE in a real world clinical scenario.

Methods Children <14 years of age attending the Pediatric Rheumatology clinic, fulfilling the 1997 SLE criteria were recruited. Urine and serum samples were collected during routine clinical review and SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) assessed. Children were divided into 3 categories, active renal, active non-renal and inactive lupus. Active lupus was defined as SLEDAI >4. Urinary and serum levels of NGAL (uNGAL; sNGAL) were assessed by ELISA. Urinary values were normalized for urinary spot creatinine. In addition, some patients were longitudinally followed up and resampled when their disease activity changed.

Results The study included 122 (F:M =91:31) children, 54 had active renal,14 had active non-renal and 54 had inactive disease. Median (IQR) age was 8.8 (6.5–10.7) years and disease duration was 10 (3–24) months.26 children with nephrotic syndrome and 49 age and gender matched healthy controls were also recruited. Children with active renal lupus had significantly higher uNGAL as compared to other categories.Although sNGAL was significantly higher in active renal as compared to inactive lupus,there was no difference between renal and non-renal active lupus (Table 1). On longitudinal follow up, uNGAL levels increased markedly prior to a flare, significantly higher in renal compared to a non-renal flare (p<0.05). On the other hand, active lupus children had a significant fall in their uNGAL on follow up. Their was good correlation between change in SLEDAI and change in absolute uNGAL levels (r =0.84, p<0.01). Overall, on ROC analysis, uNGAL classified active renal versus active non-renal and inactive combined with an AUC of 0.986 (95% CI 0.972–1.0). The sensitivity and specificity of a uNGAL cutoff off value of 25750 ng/ml was 96.3 and 91.2% respectively.

Conclusions Urinary NGAL is a sensitive marker of renal involvement in SLE disease activity and can also be a reliable tool for monitoring renal disease activity changes.

Disclosure of Interest None declared