OBJECTIVETo investigate the prevalence of PLA2R1 in renal biopsy specimens of patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) and explore the relationship between PLA2R1 and IMN.

METHODSA total of 108 adult patients with biopsy-proved glomerular diseases were enrolled in this study, including 41 with IMN, 2 with hepatitis B-associated membranous nephropathy, 8 with V lupus nephritis, 27 with IgA nephropathy, 19 with minimal change nephropathy, 5 with mild mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, and 6 with focal segmental glomeruloselerosis (FSGS). Indirect immunofluorescence assay was used to detect PLA2R1 in the biopsy specimens and the clinical variables of the IMN patients were analyzed.

RESULTSIn 35 of the 41 (85.37%) patients with IMN, PLA2R1 was detected with a fine granular pattern in the subepithelial deposits along the glomerular capillary loops. PLA2R1 antigen was not detected in patients with other glomerulopathies. No significant differences were found in age, serum creatinine, serum albumin, or 24-h urinary protein level between PLA2R1-positive and negative patients with IMN (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONAccording to our results, 85.37% of adult patients with biopsy-proven IMN are positive for PLA2R1 antigen, which, however, does not contribute to variations of the patients' clinical manifestations.