Objective To explore whether or not serum interleukin (IL)-36 subfamily may serve as biomarkers for disease progression in lupus nephritis (LN). Methods From March 2017 to April 2020, 103 patients hospitalized with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) at Department of Nephrology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University were selected as research subjects. They were assigned into two groups of LN (n=30) and non-LN (n=73). In addition, 83 healthy volunteers without a history of kidney disease were recruited as healthy control group. Serum levels of IL-36α、IL-36β、IL-36γ、IL-36Ra and IL-17 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Compared with healthy control group, serum levels of IL-36α [13.12(9.01, 17.95)ng/L, 21.24(11.41, 26.37)ng/L vs 10.06 (6.80, 12.34)ng/L] and IL-17 [44.18(32.78, 66.95)ng/L, 49.73(33.26, 91.08)ng/L vs 33.14(20.67, 43.07)ng/L] rose in non-LN and LN groups and the increase was more significant in LN group than that in non-LN group (P