Clinical Electron Microscopy of the Glomerulus in Human Renal Disease

Author(s):  
R. V. Weimer ◽  
C. E. Rupe ◽  
J. H. L. Watson

Electron microscopy of the glomerulus in human renal disease has yielded much data of clinical significance. Two predominant classifications of glomerular pathology are met: proliferative and membranous transformations. The latter is further divisible into those with or without deposits, usually associated with the capillary basement membrane BM. A precise ultrastructural classification would be a significant contribution to diagnosis. Seven of the classical glomerular lesions will be presented. The figures represent four of them. Three others will also be given in the demonstration viz. "Systemic" Lupus Erythematosus, Amyloidosis and The Nephrotic Syndrome.

2010 ◽  
pp. 3985-3988
Author(s):  
Dwomoa Adu

Membranous nephropathy, which accounts for 20 to 30% of cases of the nephrotic syndrome in adults, is defined histologically by the presence of subepithelial immune deposits on the outer surface of the glomerular basement membrane. The immune mechanisms that lead to this are uncertain, and most cases are of unknown cause (idiopathic), but the condition can be associated with autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus), malignancy (in 10% of cases, most commonly lung and prostate cancer), drugs, and infections....


Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the most common disease systemic autoimmune disorders that cause kidney damage. AT Conversely, kidney damage is the most common and the most severe visceral involvement of SLE. The most frequent renal involvement is glomerular and there are several types of glomerulonephritis (GN) Lupus now evaluated according to classification histological ISN / RPS (International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society) [1]. Other glomerular disorders such as a Nephrotic syndrome with minimal glomerular lesions are possible but rare. Vascular or interstitial lesions related to lupus may be associated with glomerular damage; they are rarely isolated. Finally, lupus nephropathy is sometimes mixed with renal diseases associated with lupus, the most common being renal antiphospholipid Syndrome.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2050313X1769599
Author(s):  
Shereen Paramalingam ◽  
Daniel D Wong ◽  
Gursharan K Dogra ◽  
Johannes C Nossent

Podocytopathy in systemic lupus erythematosus is characterised by diffuse foot process effacement without significant peripheral capillary wall immune deposits as seen on electron microscopy. Lupus podocytopathy falls outside the scope of the current International Society of Nephrology and the Renal Pathology Society classification of lupus nephritis. We present a case of relapsing podocytopathy with nephrotic syndrome occurring simultaneously with two extra-renal and serological disease flares, which makes it likely that podocytopathy was related to systemic lupus erythematosus activity. This case adds to the growing body of evidence that lupus podocytopathy must be considered in the differential diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus patients presenting with nephrotic syndrome.


Author(s):  
Francis R. Comerford ◽  
Alan S. Cohen

Mice of the inbred NZB strain develop a spontaneous disease characterized by autoimmune hemolytic anemia, positive lupus erythematosus cell tests and antinuclear antibodies and nephritis. This disease is analogous to human systemic lupus erythematosus. In ultrastructural studies of the glomerular lesion in NZB mice, intraglomerular dense deposits in mesangial, subepithelial and subendothelial locations were described. In common with the findings in many examples of human and experimental nephritis, including many cases of human lupus nephritis, these deposits were amorphous or slightly granular in appearance with no definable substructure.We have recently observed structured deposits in the glomeruli of NZB mice. They were uncommon and were found in older animals with severe glomerular lesions by morphologic criteria. They were seen most commonly as extracellular elements in subendothelial and mesangial regions. The deposits ranged up to 3 microns in greatest dimension and were often adjacent to deposits of lipid-like round particles of 30 to 250 millimicrons in diameter and with amorphous dense deposits.


Lupus ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 096120332098858
Author(s):  
José A Gómez-Puerta ◽  
Guillermo J Pons-Estel ◽  
Rosana Quintana ◽  
Romina Nieto ◽  
Rosa M Serrano Morales ◽  
...  

Introduction: After more than 20 years of sustained work, the Latin American Group for the Study of Lupus (GLADEL) has made a significant number of contributions to the field of lupus, not only in the differential role that race/ethnicity plays in its course and outcome but also in several other studies including the beneficial effects of using antimalarials in lupus patients and the development of consensus guidelines for the treatment of lupus in our region. Methods: A new generation of “Lupus Investigators” in more than 40 centers throughout Latin America has been constituted in order to continue the legacy of the investigators of the original cohort and to launch a novel study of serum and urinary biomarkers in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Results: So far, we have recruited 807 patients and 631 controls from 42 Latin-American centers including 339 patients with SLE without renal involvement, 202 patients with SLE with prevalent but inactive renal disease, 176 patients with prevalent and active renal disease and 90 patients with incident lupus nephritis. Conclusions: The different methodological aspects of the GLADEL 2.0 cohort are discussed in this manuscript, including the challenges and difficulties of conducting such an ambitious project.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (38) ◽  
pp. 10637-10642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine V. Lourenço ◽  
Aijing Liu ◽  
Giuseppe Matarese ◽  
Antonio La Cava

Leptin is an adipocytokine that plays a key role in the modulation of immune responses and the development and maintenance of inflammation. Circulating levels of leptin are elevated in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, but it is not clear whether this association can reflect a direct influence of leptin on the propathogenic events that lead to SLE. To investigate this possibility, we compared the extent of susceptibility to SLE and lupus manifestations between leptin-deficient (ob/ob) and H2-matched leptin-sufficient (wild-type, WT) mice that had been treated with the lupus-inducing agent pristane. Leptin deficiency protected ob/ob mice from the development of autoantibodies and renal disease and increased the frequency of immunoregulatory T cells (Tregs) compared with leptin-sufficient WT mice. The role of leptin in the development of SLE was confirmed in the New Zealand Black (NZB) × New Zealand White (NZW)F1 (NZB/W) mouse model of spontaneous SLE, where elevated leptin levels correlated with disease manifestations and the administration of leptin accelerated development of autoantibodies and renal disease. Conversely, leptin antagonism delayed disease progression and increased survival of severely nephritic NZB/W mice. At the cellular level, leptin promoted effector T-cell responses and facilitated the presentation of self-antigens to T cells, whereas it inhibited the activity of regulatory CD4 T cells. The understanding of the role of leptin in modulating autoimmune responses in SLE can open possibilities of leptin-targeted therapeutic intervention in the disease.


2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 705-708
Author(s):  
Natasa Jovanovic ◽  
Jasmina Markovic-Lipkovski ◽  
Stevan Pavlovic ◽  
Biljana Stojimirovic

Introduction. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic immunological disease causing a significant morbidity and mortality in younger women and involving several organs and systems, most often the kidneys, being consequently the incidence of lupus nephritis (LN) about 60%. Case report. We reported a 57 year-old patient with the diagnosed SLE in 1995. Pathohistological analysis of kidney biopsy revealed LN type V. The patient was treated with corticosteroid pulses and azathioprine during one year. A remission was achieved and maintained with prednisone, 15 mg daily. Nephrotic relapse was diagnosed in 2006 and the second kidney biopsy revealed recent kidney infarction due to extensive vasculitis. Soon, a cerebrovascul insult developed and CT-scan revealed endocranial infarctus. The patient was treated with corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide pulses (totally VI monthly pulses), and also with low-molecular heparine, anticoagulants and salicylates because of the right leg phlebothrombosis. After the pulses, the patient was adviced to take prednisone 20 mg daily and azothioprine 100 mg daily, and 6 months later mycophenolate mofetil because of persistent active serological immunological findings (ANA 1 : 320) and nephrotic syndrome. Mycophenolate mofetil was efficient in inducing and maintaining remission of nephrotic syndrome. Conclusion. The aim of LN treatment is to achieve and maintain remission, improve patients? outcome, reduce the toxicity of immunosuppressive drugs and the incidence of relapses. Mycophenolate mofetil was shown to be efficient in inducing and maintaining remission of nephrotic syndrome in the frame of LN.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document