ACUTE IMMUNE-COMPLEX DISEASE ASSOCIATED WITH HEPATITIS - ETIOPATHOGENIC AND IMMUNOPATHOLOGIC STUDIES OF RENAL LESION

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  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 100  (9) , 484-486
Abstract
Immune deposit glomerulonephritis was previously shown to be associated with hepatitis B antigenemia. Immune complexes of this antigen and its antibody were implicated in the pathogenesis of the renal disease. In this report a boy had acute immune complex disease with glomerulitis in which cryoprecipitable complexes of HbsAg [hepatitis B surface antigen] and its antibody were isolated from serum. HbsAg was concentrated in the cryoprecipitate and localized in a granular pattern along the glomerular basement membrane in association with immunoglobulins. Glomerular fixed antibody was eluted and shown to be directed against HbsAg. The level of antibody activity to HbsAg was higher in the eluate than the serum, suggesting immunopathogenic specificity of the antibody. The nephritis was mediated by immune complexes of HbsAg and its antibody; the presence of immunoglobulin on the kidney did not represent trapping from the circulation.