Mean Urinary Cytokine MCP-1 in Children with Urinary Tract Obstruction and Healthy Children

[Background and Objectives]Hydronephrosis is defined as varying degrees of dilatation in renal pelvis and calyxes, which leads to renal parenchymal atrophy together with obstruction of urinary flow. The present study was conducted to compare levels of urinary cytokine MCP-1 in children with urinary obstruction and healthy children attending Ali-Asghar hospital of the city of Zahedan.[Methods]The present case-control study recruited 20 children with obstructive hydronephrosis, 20 children with non-obstructive hydronephrosis, and 30 healthy children as the control group that matched in terms of gender and age and were selected by the convenience sampling method. Urine samples were taken from these children, and urinary creatinine and MCP-1 levels were measured. Data were analyzed with the SPSS-21 software using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests.[Results]Mean MCP-1 level was 542.56 ng/L in the obstructive hydronephrosis group, 424.7 ng/L in the non-obstructive hydronephrosis, and 335.97 ng/L in the control group. Mean MCP-1 to creatinine ratio was 58.94 in the obstructive hydronephrosis group, 39.58 in non-obstructive hydronephrosis, and 33.1 in the control group. Mean MCP-1 and MCP-1 to creatinine ratio was significantly higher in the obstructive hydronephrosis group compared with non-obstructive hydronephrosis and control groups (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found in MCP-1 and MCP-1 to creatinine ratio between patients with unilateral and bilateral obstructive hydronephrosis (P < 0.05).[Conclusions]The present study results showed that MCP-1 could be a marker for renal tubular injury in patients with obstructive hydronephrosis.