Urine anti-PLA2R antibody is a novel biomarker of idiopathic membranous nephropathy

• Published in: Oncotarget 2018-01, Vol.9 (1), p.67-74
• Main Authors: Wang, Yu, He, Yi-Xin, Diao, Tian-Tian, Wei, Shi-Yao, Qi, Wen-Rui, Wang, Cen-Cen, Song, Shu-Min, Bi, Min, Li, Chun-Mei, Zhang, Cai-Xia, Hou, Yan-Pei, Wei, Qiu-Ju, Li, Bing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Research Paper: Immunology
• ISSN: 1949-2553; 1949-2553
• DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.19859

Since urine samples more directly reflect kidney alterations and damage than blood samples, we investigated whether urine anti-PLA R antibody (uPLA R-Ab) could be utilized similarly to serum anti-PLA R antibody (sPLA R-Ab) as a noninvasive biomarker of idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). In this study, we performed a qualitative analysis using an indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT) and measured uPLA R-Ab and sPLA R-Ab concentrations using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 28 patients with biopsy-proven IMN and 12 patients with secondary membranous nephropathy (SMN). Overall, 64.3% ( =18) of patients with IMN had IIFT-positive sPLA R-Ab, 67.9% ( =19) of patients with IMN had IIFT-positive uPLA R-Ab, and none of the SMN patients had IIFT-positive sPLA R-Ab or uPLA R-Ab. The titers of the anti-PLA R antibody from the IMN patients in the urine (10.72±22.24 RU/μmol, presented as uPLA R-Ab/urine creatinine) and serum (107.36±140.93 RU/ml) were higher than those from the SMN patients (0.51±0.46 RU/μmol, 0.008±0.029 RU/ml, respectively,