N. Stankeviciute et al., MESANGIAL LUPUS NEPHRITIS WITH ASSOCIATED NEPHROTIC SYNDROME, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 8(7), 1997, pp. 1199-1204
Patients with mesangial proliferative lupus glomerulonephritis (World
Health Organization class II) are generally believed to have only mild
to moderate proteinuria and normal renal function. However, there hav
e been several reports of patients with mesangial lupus with nephrotic
-range proteinuria. In this report, we present two additional cases an
d review the literature. Of seven reported cases, persistent nephrotic
syndrome was observed in four, morphologic transformation occurred in
three, and all but one presented with varying degrees of azotemia. Th
ese cases reinforce the concept that in systemic lupus erythematosus,
laboratory findings may not correlate well with the underlying glomeru
lar lesion, and therefore, the renal biopsy is an essential clinical t
ool in the approach to lupus nephritis.