Vasculitis
Anti-Glomerular
Basement Membrane (GBM) antibodies
Glomerular
nephritis is a major cause of irreversible
renal failure. Many forms of glomerular
nephritis are caused by immunological
mechanisms associated with autoimmunity.
One particular type of glomerular nephritis
is caused by Goodpasture’s Syndrome
(GS).
GS
is an autoantibody mediated glomerular
nephritis characterised by the presence
of antibodies to the a 3 chain of type
IV collagen which is the specific antigenic
determinant for the glomerular basement
membrane (GBM). Diagnosis is based on
a combination of clinical features and
laboratory tests. The presence of kidney
lesions (crescent formation in the glomeruli)
gives an indication of kidney damage
but is not considered specific.
Indirect
immunofluorescence (IFA) using monkey
kidney sections for the detection of
antibodies to GBM is useful but is regarded
as less sensitive and less specific
than BlueDot
and
is often difficult to interpret.
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