The temporal association of tonsillitis and hematuria or proteinuria in IgA nephropathy suggests that there might be a link between the physiological properties of the secondary lymphoid organ that tonsils represent and the mesangial deposition of IgA characteristic of this nephropathy. A number of clinical and ex-vivo data support this hypothesis. One of the earliest was the demonstration of t...

The finding in primary IgA nephropathy of increased levels of IgA to food antigens and particularly to gliadin prompted the hypothesis that a subgroup of these patients may have latent coeliac disease. The observation that gliadin may experimentally induce IgA mesangial deposits supported this hypothesis. We evaluated specific immunological markers of coeliac disease (antiendomysium antibodies)...

IgA nephropathy is the commonest cause of glomerulonephritis worldwide, and is usually a renal-limited disease. In rare cases, IgA nephropathy may also present with a pulmonary-renal syndrome in which pulmonary hemorrhage is a critical feature. Patients presenting with IgA nephropathy and pulmonary hemorrhage have high morbidity and are at high risk for mortality unless rapid immunosuppressive ...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to report a case of bilateral nodular scleritis in a patient with final diagnosis of IgA nephropathy. METHODS This is an observational case report. RESULTS A male patient, 42 years old, presented with a bilateral nodular scleritis and OD sclerokeratitis. He had a previous history of acute otitis media and developed posterior renal failure and arterial hy...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Our aim was to explore the molecular mechanism underlying development of IgA nephropathy and discover candidate agents for IgA nephropathy. METHODS The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between patients with IgA nephropathy and normal controls were identified by the data of GSE35488 downloaded from GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) database. The co-expressed gene pairs among D...

Depositions of IgA in the renal glomerular mesangial area are a hallmark of IgA nephropathy, and are thought to be crucial for the onset of inflammation processes in IgA nephropathy. In this report we show that human mesangial cells (MC) in vitro bind IgA and that binding of IgA enhances the production of IL-6 by MC. Furthermore we show that the size of IgA is crucial in its capability to enhan...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patients with IgA nephropathy typically present with hematuria and subnephrotic proteinuria. Nephrotic syndrome is uncommon in IgA nephropathy, and when present, it is usually associated with severe histologic features, such as endocapillary proliferation, segmental sclerosis, and crescent formation. Rarely, patients with IgA nephropathy present with nephrotic syndrome...

IgA nephropathy is glomerular disease first described in 1968 by Berger, named after him Morbus Berger. The disease is characterized by the presence of IgA dominant or codominant immunoglobulin deposits in glomerular mesangium which can be demonstrated by immunofluorescence. Clinical manifestations of IgA nephropathy in the majority of cases is hematuria which can be macro or microscopic, isola...