In membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis

Perez-Calvo, J., Lasierra, R, Moros, M., Inigo, R Role of ribavirin in membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis associated with hepatitis C... 

Renal disease is seen in 17% of infants with oq-antitrypsin deficiency. It causes massive protein loss, hypoalbuminemia, and renal failure. The kidney disease is an immunological disorder occurring only in patients with liver disease, resulting in a membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis with immunoreactive antitrypsin antigen present, as well as complement and immunoglobulins. It should not be confused with the nonspecific spotty asymptomatic glomerulonephritis or hepatorenal syndrome, commonly seen in cirrhosis. 

A 40-year-old man who had taken carbamazepine since childhood suffered for over 10 years from a lupus-like illness with hypocomplementemia, pancytopenia, and splenomegaly (67). He later developed cryoglobulinemia with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and raised ANA and pANCA titers. A causative role of carbamazepine in the latter syndrome was suggested by the observation that after withdrawal the antibodies fell and cryoglobulinemia resolved. 

Kimmel PL, Abraham AA, Phillips TM. Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in a patient... 

Thompson AM, AnthonovychT, Lin R. Local membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in heroin users. J Am Soc Nephrol 1973 105A. 

Herrman J, Gabriel F Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in a patient with hairy-cell leukemia treated with alpha-ll interferon, N Engl J Med 1987,316 112-113... 

Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) is one of the least-common renal morphologic entities that occurs in older children and adults. Although whites are more frequently affected. 

Zimmerman SW, Moorthy AV, DreherWH, etal. Prospective trial of warfarin and dipyridamole in patients with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Am J Med 1983 75 920-927. 

Acute renal failure or deterioration has frequently been cited in association with IFN-a treatment of Hepatitis C and even Hepatitis B. It is well known that Hepatitis C virus infection causes glomerulonephritis (GN). Membranoproliferative GN is the most common manifestation and biopsy specimens have shown deposition of immune complexes composed of HCV related antigen and cryoglobulin. The difficulty lies in distinguishing glomerulonephritis caused by Hepatitis C from glomerulonephritis seen in association with IFN-a therapy or from occult underlying renal disease that is exacerbated by IFN-a. 

AMD has long been hypothesized to be a systemic disease based first on the presence of retinal drusen in patients with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis type II and more recently by systemic complement activation in AMD Support for this hypothesis also comes from mounting evidence that AGEs play a role in AMD AGEs are a... 

Fusion inhibitors are a new class of agents approved in the management of HIV infection. They bind to surface proteins on T-lymphocytes and prevent entry of the HIV virus. The only fusion inhibitor currently approved for use is enfuvirtide. Nephrotoxicity has not been reported with enfuvirtide, however, one patient with a previous history of proteinuria and hematuria was described to have developed membranoprolif-erative glomerulonephritis [158]. The cause and effect relationship of this event and the use of the fusion inhibitor remain unclear. 

Glomerulonephritis may be associated with chronic inflammatory bowel disease and has a heterogeneous expression [104]. Minimal change glomerulonephritis, membranous, membranoproliferative, focal glomerulosclerosis, and proliferative crescentic glomerulonephritis have been described and a summary of these case reports is available in the paper of Wilcox et al. [105]. In almost half of these cases, there was no relationship with drug intake such as sulphasalazine or 5-ASA. 

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