Onco-nephrology: glomerular diseases with cancer

Abstract

Glomerular diseases occurring in the course of malignancies remain rare. Diverse glomerular lesions can be observed in a variety of neoplasms and involve different pathophysiologic links between the glomerulopathy and the cancer. The pathophysiology of solid tumor-associated glomerulopathies remains obscure, whereas in hematologic malignancy-induced paraneoplastic glomerulopathies, a molecular link can usually be demonstrated. The aim of this review is to provide an update on glomerular diseases associated with carcinoma and hematologic malignancies, covering epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and therapy. Special emphasis will be placed on the potential usefulness of novel biomarkers, such as antiphospholipase A2 receptor antibodies, for the diagnosis of membranous nephropathy, and on new associations and recent entities, including (proliferative) GN with nonorganized monoclonal immunoglobulin deposits and myeloproliferative neoplasm-related glomerulopathy.