[Antinuclear antibodies in IgA nephropathy, as well as mesangiocapillary and membranous glomerulonephritis]

IgA nephropathy, assumed to be a form of chronic immune complex glomerulonephritis, has sometimes been associated with various autoimmune diseases and autoimmune phenomena including autoantibody production. The present study was aimed at thoroughly investigating the frequency of autoantibodies against five common nuclear autoantigens in 59 patients with IgA nephropathy and in 48 patients with other immune complex glomerulonephritides (24 patients with membranous and 24 with mesangio-capillary glomerulonephritis) and in 30 healthy controls. The incidence of raised autoantibody titres (greater than or equal to 2 SD of the average of controls) in IgA NP was not found to be significantly different from the incidence of other immune complex glomerulonephritis groups. In none of the subjects was a titer above 3 SD of the average of controls found. Although IgA NP is thought to be an immune mediated disease, on the basis of our study it is not associated with a statistically significant incidence of raised antinuclear antibodies.