[Molecular analysis of experimental membranous glomerulonephritis (Heymann nephritis)]

Heymann nephritis is an extensively studied experimental model of human membranous nephropathy, a currently barely treatable glomerular immune disease. Several basic concepts were discovered by the study of this experiment disease, such as in situ formation of immune deposits, and the roles of the complement system and of oxygen radicals in the development of proteinuria. The major goal of our studies is to develop specific therapies for the experimental and eventually also for the human disease, based on the detailed knowledge of the molecular pathogenic mechanisms. The target of immune deposit forming antibodies was identified as a large membrane glycoprotein with structural similarities with the LDL-receptor. This protein serves as polyspecific receptor, and its intriguing properties in different organs have developed into a separate area of research. Sofar the precise amino acid sequences of several epitopes for the nephritogenic antibodies were identified, thus offering the unique possibility to develop precisely targeted specific therapeutic strategies. Here we link the mechanisms of immune deposit formation with the development of proteinuria.