Induction of interstitial nephritis in rats by basement membrane of human origin

A study was conducted to investigate nephritogenic tubular basement membrane antigens common to human and rat kidneys. Brown Norway (BN) rats were immunized with human renal basement membrane in complete Freund's adjuvant simultaneously with Bordetella pertussis vaccine. The immunized rats developed polyuria and increased levels of serum creatinine one week after the second immunization. Renal histology at this time revealed marked, acute tubulointerstitial nephritis with linear deposition of IgG and C3 along the tubular basement membrane and Bowman's capsule, but not along the glomerular basement membrane. Rats with this tubulointerstitial nephritis rapidly developed antibodies against renal antigens from normal BN rats such as tubular basement membrane and proximal tubule brush border, however antibodies to glomerular basement membrane appeared later. Western blotting using the same rat sera detected a 145-kDa antigen from 8 M urea-solubilized human renal basement membrane and 120-kDa, 135-kDa and 145-kDa antigens from 8 M urea-solubilized BN rat renal basement membrane. This suggests that renal basement membranes of human and rat origin have common antigens involved in the pathogenesis of tubulointerstitial nephritis.