Original Paper

IgA Nephropathy Complicating Diabetic Glomerulosclerosis
Claudine Von Orfila^a, Jean-Claude De Lepert^a, Anne van Modesto^b, Bernard Van Pipy^a, Jean-Michel Suc<sup>b

a</sup> UPS EA-2405, et
^b Service de Néphrologie, CHU Rangueil, Toulouse, France

Address of Corresponding Author

Nephron 1998;79:279-287 (DOI: 10.1159/000045050)

  Key Words

• Immunoglobulin A nephropathy
• Diabetes
• Glomerulosclerosis

  Abstract

A retrospective study was done on 66 diabetic patients who had renal biopsies performed during 1979-1994. This review shows 10 patients who presented IgA nephropathy associated with diabetic nephropathy. Six patients had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 4 patients non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. All patients presented with proteinuria and 7 had hematuria. Four patients presented with renal impairment. Histologic evaluation disclosed the presence of thickened glomerular basement membranes and increased mesangial matrix in all cases, associated with nodular sclerosis in 8 cases. By immunofluorescence, diffuse mesangial IgA deposits were observed in all cases. The high incidence of the coexistence of IgA nephropathy and diabetes seems not merely coincidental. Structural and/or functional abnormalities of the glomerular basement membranes might facilitate the development of immune complex glomerular diseases. In patients with diabetes, the appearance of urinary abnormalities and/or deterioration in renal function altered the clinical history of diabetic nephropathy. The disorders are clinically suggestive of the presence of nondiabetic renal disease and raised the possibility of another pathogenetic mechanism.

  Author Contacts

Claudine Orfila
UPS EA-2405, CHU Rangueil
F-31403 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France)
Tel. +33 5 61 32 29 67, Fax +33 5 61 32 22 93, E-Mail orfila@rangueil.inserm.fr.

  Article Information

Accepted: February 23, 1998
Number of Print Pages : 9
Number of Figures : 3, Number of Tables : 4, Number of References : 46