Membranous glomerulonephritis immune response

Over the past decade there has, as result of experimental studies, been a growing appreciation that mercury may exert an effect on the immune system. As summarized by Silbergeld and Devine [72], mercury has at least two types of effects on the immune system. First, mercury induces autoimmunity to renal basement membrane proteins, causing mercury-induced glomerulonephritis in certain strains of mice and rats. Secondly, mercury exposure impairs cell-mediated and humoral immunity by affecting Thl and Th2 responses, which in turn impairs the body s ability to effectively... 

A. Antiglomerular basement membrane antibodies Some xenobiotics may induce an immune-type glomerulonephritis associated with the occurrence of antibodies against some constituents of the glomerular basement membrane. These antibodies may be directly responsible for the nephropathy or they may be produced as a consequence of non- specific alterations of the normal glomerular basement membrane lattice. 

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