GAMMA GLOBULIN AND COMPLEMENT IN THE DISEASED KIDNEY

Abstract

Sections of kidney tissue from 22 patients were studied by the fluorescent antibody technique for the presence of gamma-globulin and complement, utilizing antisera prepared in the horse and rabbit. Neither gamma-globulin nor complement was found in normal kidneys, in the kidney of a patient who had recovered from acute glomerulonephritis, or in the kidney of a patient with scleroderma with doubtful histological changes. Both substances were present, in a closely comparable distribution, in the renal lesions in glomerulonephritis and lupus nephritis, and in one case of diabetic nephropathy. The presence of complement together with gamma-globulin in the renal lesions was considered to provide additional evidence of the antibody nature of the gamma-globulin. Detailed study of the glomerulus in lupus nephritis suggested a nuclear localization for at least part of the gamma-globulin and complement in the glomerulus, and suggested that nuclear changes may contribute to the pathogenesis of the renal lesion in SLE.