Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis

Membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis is a pattern of kidney injury marked by mesangial proliferation and thickened glomerular capillary walls, caused by immune-complex or complement-mediated inflammation.

Immune complex: A cluster formed when antibodies bind antigens, sometimes depositing in tissues and activating inflammation. Deposited immune complexes can drive one major form of this glomerular injury.
Glomerulus: A tuft of capillaries in the kidney where blood filtration begins. The disease's defining structural changes occur in this filtration unit.
Kidney biopsy: A procedure that obtains kidney tissue for microscopic and immunologic examination. Biopsy establishes the pattern and helps identify the mechanism of injury.
IgA nephropathy: A glomerular disease characterized by IgA-dominant immune deposits, often presenting with recurrent hematuria. It can cause mesangial proliferation but has a distinct deposit pattern and diagnostic identity.
Complement system: A network of blood proteins that enhances immune defense and can damage host tissues when dysregulated. Its overactivation drives complement-mediated forms of the disease.
Glomerulonephritis: Inflammation of the kidney's glomeruli, often causing blood or protein in urine and reduced filtration. This is the broader disease category that includes the membranoproliferative pattern.
Hepatitis C: A viral infection of the liver caused by hepatitis C virus, which can also cause immune-mediated disease outside the liver. Chronic infection can trigger immune-complex-mediated glomerular injury.
Poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis: An immune-mediated kidney inflammation that follows infection with certain strains of group A Streptococcus. It can show complement deposition and proliferative injury but usually has a different biopsy pattern.
C3 glomerulopathy: A group of kidney diseases caused by dominant C3 deposition from alternative complement pathway dysregulation. It is the complement-driven disease family within this morphologic pattern.
Light microscopy: The examination of tissue sections using visible light and a conventional microscope. It reveals mesangial expansion and capillary-wall thickening in kidney biopsy.

Linked from 1 page

Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritisCompared with: Its persistent course and biopsy pattern differ from typical post-infectious disease.