IgA-associated glomerulonephritis with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis-like pattern in two children

In this article, we report two patients with IgA-associated glomerulonephritis with a membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) -like pattern. Both patients had nephrotic syndrome at onset. One patient was treated with high-dose alternate-day prednisolone (PSL), and the other with indomethacin and low-dose PSL. One lost the urinary abnormalities 3 years after starting treatment. The other lost the nephrotic state and hematuria over a 5-year period, but proteinuria persisted until the last follow-up. Both patients had diffuse proliferative changes with mesangial interposition and subendothelial deposits, associated with strongly positive deposits of C3 and IgA along the capillary walls of the glomeruli. These two patients showed histological changes compatible with type-I MPGN, but the pattern of IgA deposits was not typical of idiopathic MPGN or IgA nephropathy. We assume this is a rare form of MPGN, not associated with liver disease or other systemic diseases.