Analysis of cytokines with Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Plasma was obtained from whole blood, drawn in EDTA tube, by centrifuging at 400xg, for 10 min at room temperature. Plasma samples from IgAN patients and HC were then analyzed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the concentration of the following factors; monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1) (Human CCL2/MCP-1 Quantikine ELISA Kit, R&D Systems, USA), soluble CD14 (Human CD14 Quantikine ELISA Kit, R&D Systems), soluble CD40L (Human CD40 Ligand/TNFSF5 Quantikine ELISA Kit, R&D Systems), B cell activating factor (BAFF) (Human BAFF Quantikine ELISA Kit, R&D Systems), IL-6 (Human IL-6 Quantikine HS ELISA Kit, R&D Systems), Fractalkine (Human CX3CL1/Fractalkine Quantikine ELISA Kit, R&D Systems) and MIP-1 (Human CCL3/MIP-1 alpha Quantikine ELISA Kit, R&D Systems). The samples were assayed in duplicates and the average values were considered for further analysis. The optical density (OD) in blank well was subtracted from the OD values in samples before calculation of concentrations.