Partial Lipodystrophy and Glomerulonephritis without Complement Activation

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Abstract
To the Editor: As recently emphasized in the Journal,1 the relation between partial lipodystrophy, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis of the dense-deposit type and chronic activation of the alternative complement pathway by C3 nephritic factor is still not clearly explained. The data presented by Sissons et al.1 suggest that partial lipodystrophy is associated with alternative-pathway activation in about two thirds of patients and that the resulting hypocomplementemia predisposes to the development of membrano-proliferative glomerulonephritis. In these authors' experience these conditions have always been associated with hypocomplementemia and C3 nephritic factor. However, we have recently observed a patient with typical partial lipodystrophy and . . .