Renal damage is the major cause of SLE associated mortality, and IFIT1expression 
was elevated in SLE cases in accordance of previous studies. Therefore, we 
conducted an animal study to identify the role of IFIT1 expression in renal 
pathological changes.18 female MRL/lpr mice and same number of female BALB/c 
mice were enrolled in present study. Quantitative analysis of urine protein, 
Complement C3 and C4, and anti-ds DNA antibody were conducted. HE and PAS 
staining and TEM analysis were employed to observe the pathological changes in 
renal tissue. Significant elevation on urine protein and anti-dsDNA and 
reduction on Complement C3 and C4 were observed in MRL/lpr mice when comparing 
the controls in same age. Staining and TEM analysis observed several 
pathological changes in glomerulus among MRL/lpr mice, including cellular 
enlargement, basement membrane thickening, and increased cellularcasts. The 
linear regression analysis found the optical density of IFIT1 was inversely 
associated with F-actin, Nephrin, and Podocin, but not Synatopodin. In summary, 
IFIT1 expression is associated with podocytes damage, and capable of suppressing 
some proteins essential to glomerular filtration.