Allergic- and immune-associated diseases of the urinary tract

Glomerular injury has a decided immunologic basis. Any infectious, inflammatory, neoplastic, or degenerative processes capable of sustained antigenic stimulation can induce immune-mediated glomerular injury. A variety of conditions and antigens, both endogenous and exogenous, are known to initiate immunologic glomerular damage. In many clinical situations, however, the precise antigenic source is occult and unrecognizable, and the glomerular disease is referred to as idiopathic.