Dr Goodpasture: "I was not aware of such a connection between lung and kidney disease"

Triple hit to the kidney-dual pathological crescentic glomerulonephritis and diffuse proliferative immune complex-mediated glomerulonephritis: A case report

BACKGROUND

Anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease is a rare rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis, frequently associated with alveolar hemorrhage in the lungs and involving the kidney by crescentic glomerulonephritis. It has been described in association with other glomerulonephritides [such as anti-neutrophilic antibody (ANCA)-glomerulonephritis, membranous nephropathy, and immunoglobulin (Ig)A nephropathy].

CASE SUMMARY

Herein we present an unusual case of concurrent anti-GBM disease, ANCA-associated crescentic glomerulonephritis and diffuse proliferative immune complex mediated glomerulonephritis with predominant staining for IgA and C3 by immunofluorescence. The patient is a 46-year-old Caucasian male who presented to the emergency department with acute onset of flank pain and was found to have high serum creatinine levels of 15 mg/dL, proteinuria, and hematuria. He rapidly deteriorated and became anuric. He was found to have high anti-GBM antibodies titers (151 units) and high anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic-ANCA. Despite prompt and early treatment, the patient’s condition worsened, and he succumbed to his illness.

CONCLUSION

Our case emphasizes the importance of a renal biopsy in anti-GBM disease, even in the presence of positive serum anti-GBM antibodies, to identify other potential causes of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. The challenge in treating such cases lies in the different therapy modalities.

Goodpasture Syndrome Diagnosed One Year And A Half after the Appearance of the First Symptoms (Case Report)

BACKGROUND:

Goodpasture syndrome was originally described as an association of alveolar haemorrhage and glomerulonephritis. It occurs when the immune system attacks and destroys healthy body tissue.

AIM:

We are presenting a patient with a clinical picture of pulmonary haemorrhage and glomerulonephritis, which is diagnosed by renal biopsy.

CASE PRESENTATION:

His illness began a year and a half before being diagnosed. In that period he had occasional exacerbations. He was received at our Clinic in extremely serious condition, and after stabilisation of his medical condition, there was made a biopsy of the kidney. The p-ANCA was 8.93 U/ml (neg < 3, poz > 5 U/ml). Histopathological diagnosis of biopsy of the kidney was: Glomerulonephritis extra capillaries focalis, segmentalis et globalis. Based on this he was diagnosed with Goodpasture syndrome. He received corticosteroid therapy and cyclophosphamide, with good response to treatment, and he is currently in a stable condition, receiving only corticosteroid therapy.

CONCLUSION:

Goodpasture syndrome is a severe illness caused by the formation of antibodies to the glomerular basement membrane and alveolus with consequential damage to renal and pulmonary function. With current therapy, long-term survival is more than 50%.

Cutting edge issues in Goodpasture's disease

Goodpasture's disease, or anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) disease, is a systemic autoimmune disorder defined by anti-GBM antibody-mediated damage (mainly immunoglobulin G-1) resulting in progressive crescentic glomerulonephritis and, frequently, diffuse pulmonary alveolar hemorrhage. It may be regarded as a "conformeropathy" where the quaternary structure of the α345NC1 hexamer that constitutes GBM undergoes a conformational change, exposing pathogenic epitopes on the α3 and α5 chains, eliciting a pathogenic autoantibody anti-GBM response. Goodpasture's disease accounts for 20% of all patients presenting with a pulmonary-renal syndrome and may be associated with detectable perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody positivity in up to a third of patients. Associated triggers may include tobacco smoking, hydrocarbon solvent exposure, and cocaine abuse. Cough, hemoptysis, and dyspnea with fatigue are the commonest presenting features. It is critical to rapidly distinguish Goodpasture's disease from other causes of pulmonary-renal syndromes such as Wegener's granulomatosis. Early and intensive treatment with plasmapheresis and immunosuppression with systemic corticosteroids pending results of diagnostic testing, and later cyclophosphamide, is often beneficial, with 90% of patients surviving the acute presentation of Goodpasture's disease. The need for hemodialysis on initial presentation, a serum creatinine >5 mg/dL, and 50% to 100% crescents on renal biopsy, portend the necessity of long-term hemodialysis. Further elucidation of the molecular pathobiology of Goodpasture's disease, particularly the regulation of involved antigen-specific T cells, may improve early diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes in this rare but potentially lethal autoimmune disorder.