Developments in the diagnostics of glomerulonephritis

Have there been any new developments in the diagnostics of glomerulonephritis in the recent years?

Jürgen Floege: There certainly have been. I think the most important is a better understanding of what is behind the histological picture. An extremely good example is the new insight in membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, where we can now clearly separate by pathogenesis some complement-mediated forms, some immune complex-mediated forms, and this of course has major implications for new therapies.

Another very important development is the development of new diagnostic tests. I think the breakthrough of the last decade was the identification of autoantigens in membranous glomerulonephritis – the phospholipase A₂ receptor – and new antigens that are still being discovered. These have led to new serologic tests, which almost revolutionized the therapy of these diseases.