PMID: 11344904May 10, 2001Paper

Terminal complement complex (TCC) levels in urine in patients with renal diseases

[Hokkaido igaku zasshi] The Hokkaido journal of medical science
K Yasuda

Abstract

The terminal complement complex (TCC) has been reported to play an important role in the pathogenesis of proteinuria not only in experimental nephritis but also in human glomerulonephritis. In order to clarify the clinical significance of TCC, the author investigated a total of 129 pediatric patients with the following glomerular diseases: idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS; 40 cases), IgA nephropathy (IgAN; 48 cases), mesangio-capillary glomerulonephritis (MPGN; 16 cases), lupus nephritis (LN; 16 cases), purpura nephritis (5 cases) and membranous nephritis (4 cases). Results were analyzed in relation to the responsiveness to steroid treatment in INS and the degree of proteinuria and histopathologic severity in glonerulonephritis groups. In 40 patients who underwent renal biopsy, the localizations of vitronectin and clusterin, both of which are regulatory proteins for TCC, were examined by immunofluorescence microscopy in conjunction with that of TCC for the study of the mechanism of local defense in glomerulonephritis. The urinary TCC levels were elevated in 9 (90%) of 10 patients with steroid-resistant INS, while they were elevated only in 2 of 30 steroid-responsive patients. In glomerulonephritis groups, urinary TCC levels w...Continue Reading

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