The nephrotic syndrome of childhood: immunologic, clinical, and pathologic correlations.

The role of immunologic processes in the patho- genesis of human renal disease has been the sub- ject of investigation and discussion for over half a century. Factors interpreted as favoring an im- munologic basis for some of the diffuse glomerular diseases of man include reduced serum comple- ment levels, the presence of antikidney antibodies, and the similarity of pathologic changes in im- munologically induced experimental renal disease to lesions in human glomerulonephritis. More recently, the demonstration by immunofluorescent techniques of glomerular deposition of immuno- globulins and complement in a number of these disorders has provided more compelling support for the immunologic hypothesis. *The possible pathogenetic mechanisms by which immunologic processes may induce renal disease in man have been recently reviewed (2).