Lupus glomerulonephritis is a complication of systemic lupus erythematosus, with 10% of the patients developing end-stage renal disease. It is accepted that lupus patients are good candidates for kidney transplantation and that the disease activity is subdued after transplantation due to rigorous immunosuppression, with a low rate of graft loss due to recurrent glomerulonephritis. While recurrent fibrillary glomerulopathy has been reported in renal allografts, de novo disease has not. We report a patient with systemic lupus who underwent a renal transplantation and subsequently lost her allograft due to de novo fibrillary glomerulopathy. Four years after her first kidney transplant, the patient presented with acute deterioration of her renal function. A renal biopsy was performed, and it revealed a focal mesangioproliferative pattern with positive amorphous mesangial immunofluorescence staining for IgG and C3. Congo red staining was negative. Electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of randomly oriented nonamyloid fibrils in the mesangiun. The diagnosis of de novo fibrillary glomerulopathy was made. The patient lost her allograft and received a second cadaveric renal transplant 1 year later. She has had a stable renal function since then.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.