Key clinical point: A large-scale screen of urine proteins has identified molecules that may help determine whether a patient has active lupus nephritis.

Major finding: Of the 12 urine proteins studied, 10 outperformed traditional laboratory measures, such as C3/C4 and anti–double stranded DNA, in discriminating active lupus nephritis from inactive systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A Lasso regression analysis found that the best predictive model included 8 of the 12 urine proteins as well as race. The model discriminated active lupus nephritis from inactive SLE with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.98.

Study details: A cross-sectional study of 127 patients with inactive SLE, 107 patients with active lupus nephritis, 67 patients with active nonrenal lupus, and 74 healthy controls. The cohorts included patients who were African American, Caucasian, and Asian.

Disclosures: National Institutes of Health grants supported the research. The investigators had no competing interests.