THE NEPHROTIC SYNDROME OF INFANCY: CLINICAL, MORPHOLOGIC, AND IMMUNOLOGIC STUDIES OF FOUR INFANTS

Abstract

Two types of infantile nephrotic syndrome were studied in four patients. The disease in the first type was hereditary and congenital and showed characteristic renal morphology and resistance to corticosteroid therapy. In the second, the syndrome started at 6 months of age, showed no morphologic evidence of microcysts in the kidney, and was responsive to prolonged intravenous ACTH therapy. Immunologic investigation of three of these children included immunofluorescent studies of the kidneys, complement determinations, and skin grafts to their mothers. Evidence that immune factors are not primary in the pathogenesis of the nephrotic syndrome of infancy was obtained.