Glomerular cytoplasmic tubular structures in renal biopsies of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and other diseases

Virus‐like structures were present in all of 42 renal biopsies from 35 patients with SLE, five of whom had normal kidney tissue by light microscopy. Structures were also present in biopsies from 24 of 113 patients with renal disease other than SLE who had been selected at random. Fourteen of these were children, and three had normal kidney tissue by light microscopy. In biopsies from eight normal volunteers, there was no evidence of the structures. Although the structures were uniformly present in the kidneys of patients with SLE, they were not specific for SLE.