Clinical and morphologic spectrum of renal involvement in patients with mixed cryoglobulinemia without evidence of hepatitis C virus infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents, by far, the major cause of mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). The renal disease associated with this pathological condition is now well described. By contrast, renal involvement in patients with MC not associated with HCV has been only poorly described, and few cases have been reported.

Renal lesions associated with IgM-secreting monoclonal proliferations: revisiting the disease spectrum.

Background And Objectives: Since the first description of pathology of the kidney in Waldenström disease in 1970, there have been few reports on kidney complications of IgM-secreting monoclonal proliferations. Here, we aimed to revisit the spectrum of renal lesions occurring in patients with a serum monoclonal IgM.

Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Fourteen patients with a circulating monoclonal IgM and a kidney disease related to B cell proliferation were identified retrospectively.

Partial fanconi syndrome induced by imatinib therapy: a novel cause of urinary phosphate loss.

Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec, Glivec; Novartis, Basel, Switzerland) is a specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has become the gold-standard treatment for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Several tyrosine kinases inhibited by imatinib are expressed in the kidney, and although the drug is usually well tolerated, several cases of acute renal failure were reported. We describe for the first time a case of a patient treated by imatinib for chronic myeloid leukemia who developed partial Fanconi syndrome with mild renal failure, which leads to a discussion of the pathophysiological characteristics of imatinib-induced renal toxicity.

COL4A1 mutations and hereditary angiopathy, nephropathy, aneurysms, and muscle cramps.

Background: COL4A3, COL4A4, and COL4A5 are the only collagen genes that have been implicated in inherited nephropathies in humans. However, the causative genes for a number of hereditary multicystic kidney diseases, myopathies with cramps, and heritable intracranial aneurysms remain unknown.

Methods: We characterized the renal and extrarenal phenotypes of subjects from three families who had an autosomal dominant hereditary angiopathy with nephropathy, aneurysms, and muscle cramps (HANAC), which we propose is a syndrome.

D-Penicillamine-induced ANCA-associated crescentic glomerulonephritis in Wilson disease.

Several drugs, including hydralazine and propylthiouracil, can induce antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. d-Penicillamine was implicated in a few patients with rheumatoid arthritis or systemic sclerosis, but in patients with both diseases, ANCA-associated vasculitides were described in the absence of the drug. Therefore, the role of d-penicillamine treatment could not be established.

Immunoglobulin light (heavy)-chain deposition disease: from molecular medicine to pathophysiology-driven therapy.

Light-, light- and heavy-, and heavy-chain deposition diseases belong to a family of diseases that include light-chain (AL)-amyloid, nonamyloid fibrillary and immunotactoid glomerulonephritis, and cryoglobulinemic glomerulonephritis, in which monoclonal Ig or their subunits become deposited in kidney. In clinical and pathologic terms, light-, light- and heavy-, and heavy-chain deposition diseases essentially are similar and are characterized by prominent renal involvement with severe renal failure; extrarenal manifestations; diabetes-like nodular glomerulosclerosis; marked thickening of tubular basement membranes; and monotypic deposits of light chain, mostly kappa, and/or heavy chain that feature a nonorganized granular, electron-dense appearance by electron microscopy. The most common cause is myeloma.

Neonatal disease in neutral endopeptidase alloimmunization: lessons for immunological monitoring.

Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) alloimmunization has recently been determined to cause severe forms of neonatal disease as a result of the transplacental passage of anti-NEP antibodies. However there is a wide spectrum of neonatal disease variability. We present the medical histories of a large family, specifically of two alloimmunized sisters in their second pregnancy in whom we established the basis of immunological surveillance and therapeutic intervention during pregnancy and after delivery.

Polyclonal IgG4 hypergammaglobulinemia associated with plasmacytic lymphadenopathy, anemia and nephropathy.

Marked polyclonal immunoglobulin (Ig)G4 hypergammaglobulinemia has exceptionally been reported. Here we report on two Algerian patients who presented a syndrome characterized by anemia, plasmacytic lymphadenopathy, renal manifestations, and a marked polyclonal IgG4 hypergammaglobulinemia leading to a hyperviscosity syndrome in one case. The IgG4-expressing cell percentage was significantly increased in the peripheral blood lymphocytes collected from the two patients upon diagnosis.

Thrombotic microangiopathy in marginal kidneys after sirolimus use.

The increasing shortage of cadaver donor kidneys has prompted the use of expanded or marginal donor kidneys, ie, from older donors or those with a history of hypertension or diabetes. These marginal kidneys may be especially susceptible to calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-mediated vasoconstriction and nephrotoxicity. Recipients of renal transplants from marginal donors therefore require non-nephrotoxic immunosuppression.

Glomerular permeability is altered by loss of P0, a myelin protein expressed in glomerular epithelial cells.

The myelin protein 0 (MPZ or P0) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that represents the most abundant myelin component. Mutations in the P0 gene are associated with one form of autosomal dominant demyelinating peripheral neuropathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1B (CMT1B). Because CMT1 may be associated with renal involvement, mostly focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, we hypothesized that P0 could be expressed in the kidney.

Autosomal-dominant familial hematuria with retinal arteriolar tortuosity and contractures: a novel syndrome.

Background: Autosomal-dominant forms of hematuria have been mostly related to mutations in the COL4A3/COL4A4 genes. Patients with thin basement membrane (BM) disease do not have extrarenal manifestations, while those with Alport syndrome often present with hearing loss, anterior lenticonus, and dot-and-fleck retinopathy.

Methods: We performed a phenotypic study and a candidate gene approach in a four-generation family presenting with autosomal-dominant hematuria associated with extrarenal manifestations.

T-cell transcriptome analysis points up a thymic disorder in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome.

Background: Idiopathic nephrotic syndrome is a proteinuric disease secondary to the release of a nonidentified circulating glomerular permeability factor by T cells. Because specificities of T-cell activation in idiopathic nephrotic syndrome remain unknown, we evaluated transcriptional activation of T cells in nephrotic patients during proteinuria.

Methods: Transcriptomes of CD2+ cells were analyzed by serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) in a nephrotic child during proteinuria relapse and after remission, away from any immunosuppressive treatment.

Late-onset thrombocytic microangiopathy caused by cblC disease: association with a factor H mutation.

Background: cblC disease is a cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which has been primarily described in neonates and infants with severe renal and neurological lesions.

Patients: Two sisters aged 6 and 8.5 years presented with a latent hemolytic process characterized by undetectable or low plasma haptoglobin, respectively, associated with renal failure and gross proteinuria.

[Extra-membranous glomerulonephritis: report of a family and new physiopathological concepts].

Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) is a major cause of the nephrotic syndrome and chronic renal insufficiency. Studies on the reactivity of nephritogenic antibodies implicated in a case of antenatal MGN led to identify for the first time a target of the immune conflict in glomeruli, neutral endopeptidase (CD10). This enzyme that is restricted to certain tissues, being strongly expressed in the placenta and on glomerular podocytes, is involved in the catabolism of a number of regulatory peptides, particularly those involved in vasomotricity.

A cluster of mutations in the UMOD gene causes familial juvenile hyperuricemic nephropathy with abnormal expression of uromodulin.

Familial juvenile hyperuricemic nephropathy (FJHN [MIM 162000]) is an autosomal-dominant disorder characterized by abnormal tubular handling of urate and late development of chronic interstitial nephritis leading to progressive renal failure. A locus for FJHN was previously identified on chromosome 16p12 close to the MCKD2 locus, which is responsible for a variety of autosomal-dominant medullary cystic kidney disease (MCKD2). UMOD, the gene encoding the Tamm-Horsfall/uromodulin protein, maps within the FJHN/MCKD2 critical region.

The spectrum of systemic involvement in adults presenting with renal lesion and mitochondrial tRNA(Leu) gene mutation.

The A3243G mutation of the mitochondrial tRNA(Leu) gene has been recently reported in rare patients with focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). However, the full spectrum of systemic and kidney manifestations in adults presenting with this mutation remains poorly defined. Assessment of renal and nonrenal manifestations was performed in nine patients with A3243G mutation and prominent kidney disease diagnosed in adulthood.

Imaging medullary cystic kidney disease with magnetic resonance.

Medullary cystic kidney disease is characterized by multiple renal cysts at the corticomedullary boundary area, by autosomal dominant inheritance, and by onset of chronic renal failure in the third decade of life. Its clinical manifestations are often insignificant and nonspecific. Furthermore, its diagnosis may be difficult in sporadic forms where genetic linkage analysis cannot be performed.

Fanconi syndrome and renal failure induced by tenofovir: a first case report.

Although nephrotoxicity of cidofovir and adefovir is well established, no renal side effects have been observed yet with tenofovir, which is the third member of this family. The authors report the case of a patient who had Fanconi syndrome, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, and acute renal failure during treatment with tenofovir, a nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitor that recently has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus.

Anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis and bullous pemphigoid caused by distinct anti-alpha 3(IV)NC1 and anti-BP180 antibodies in a patient with Crohn's disease.

Background: Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis is a rare disease induced by antibodies directed against alpha3(IV)NC1, the Goodpasture antigen. We report a patient with Crohn's disease who developed anti-GBM nephritis and the skin blistering disorder bullous pemphigoid, owing to distinct autoantibodies.

Methods: Frozen sections of skin and kidney biopsies were incubated with antisera specific for human IgG, IgA, IgM, fibrin, and C3.

Adult haemolytic and uraemic syndrome: causes and prognostic factors in the last decade.

Background: Haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) is a rare and severe disease of various aetiologies in adults. The effect of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) infusion in adults suffering from HUS is not well defined. The aim of this retrospective study was to analyse the causes of HUS in adults admitted in a single renal intensive care unit (ICU) and to determine the life and renal prognosis factors, while most patients (78%) received FFP infusion.