Two cases of glomerulonephritis in one patient infected with the hepatitis C virus

Abstract

Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (GN) may be pathogenically associated with infection due to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) as many clinical cases have shown. The potential relationship between the HCV and IgA GN, by contrast, has been suggested only in isolated cases. IgA nephropathy recurs in up to 50% of cases after renal transplantation, but it is uncommon for it to appear as a de novo GN. We report the case of a patient with chronic infection due to the HCV and liver disease, who developed two different glomerular diseases during its progression: membranoproliferative GN in his native kidneys, a process that caused terminal renal failure and de novo IgA GN in the transplanted kidney. The potential pathogenic relationship of both glomerular processes with infection due to the HCV is discussed.