The Role of Anti-PLA 2 R and Anti-THSD7A Antibodies in the Pathogenesis and Diagnostics of Primary Membranous Nephropathy: A Review of Current Knowledge for Clinical Practice

Iwona Smarz-Widelska, Dariusz Chojęta and Małgorzata M. Kozioł
Additional contact information
Iwona Smarz-Widelska: Department of Nephrology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski Provincial Hospital, 20-718 Lublin, Poland
Dariusz Chojęta: Chair and Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Małgorzata M. Kozioł: Chair and Department of Medical Microbiology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: Primary membranous nephropathy (PMN) is considered a major cause of nephrotic syndrome. The discovery of circulating autoantibodies directed against glomerular podocytes helped to classify them as autoimmune diseases. Over the past years, there has been an increasing significance of anti-Phospholipase A2 Receptor (anti-PLA 2 R), which has been detected in 70–80% of PMN cases, and relevance of anti-Thrombospondin type I domain-containing 7A (anti-THSD7A) even though they are present in 2–5% of patients. The results of clinical and experimental studies indicate that these antibodies are pathogenic. It radically changed the diagnostic and therapeutic approach. Measurement of antibody titers in the serum seems to be a valuable tool for identifying PMN and for the assessment of disease activity. By monitoring pathogenic antibodies levels rather than proteinuria or reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) as an indicator of glomerular disease, physicians would easier divide patients into those with active and inactive PMN disease and decide about their therapy. The aim of this review is to evaluate scientific evidence about the role of autoantibodies, namely anti-PLA 2 R and anti-THSD7A, as PMN biomarkers. The present manuscript focuses on PMN pathogenesis and key data of diagnosis, monitoring of the disease, and treatment strategies that are currently being used in clinical practice.

Keywords: nephrotic syndrome; PMN; anti-phospholipase A2 receptor; anti-thrombospondin type I domain-containing 7A (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5301/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5301/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5301-:d:803174

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().