[Is there hepatitis C virus associated glomerulonephritis?]

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the important causes of chronic and severe hepatitis in China. In an attempt to understand if there is any relationship between HCV infection and glomerulonephritis (GN), serum samples from 570 GN patients and 100 normal volunteers were screened for anti-HCV antibody (HCV-Ab) with ELISA method. Among the cases with positive HCV-Ab, serum HCV-RNA was tested with nested RT-PCR method. The incidence of serum HCV-Ab was 2 in 100 normal volunteers (2%) and 34 in 570 GN patients (6%). The incidence of positive serum HCV-RNA was 0 in normal volunteers whereas 21 in GN patients. The main clinical manifestation of GN patients with serum positive HCV-Ab was an unique proteinuria with/without nephrotic syndrome or renal failure, whereas the pathologic lesions in GN patients with serum positive HCV-Ab or HCV-RNA consisted of different disease entities. There was no close link between MPGN and active HCV infection. From the data observed, it seems that there is a coincidence between glomerular diseases and HCV infection rather than a matter of cause and consequence.