Renal glomerular lesions in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (literature review)

Abstract

The literature review describes the different forms of glomerulonephritis (GN) in children with polyarticular and systemic forms of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). In the available literature, there are 21 clinical cases of GN: ANCA-associated GN, mesangial proliferative GN, including IgA- and IgM-nephropathy, membranous nephropathy, focal-segmental glomerulosclerosis, minimal change disease, and extracapillary GN. The mechanism of glomerular lesions in JRA is explained by hyperproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines and by nephrotoxic action of basal anti-inflammatory medications. The clinical manifestations and the effectiveness of treatment of each variant of GN in children with JRA were analyzed in detail. Most publications are devoted to ANCA-associated GN, which developed in patients with a torpid course and a high activity of polyarticular and systemic forms of JRA. The peculiarity of ANCA-associated GN was the presence of hypercreatininemia and in almost half of cases the development of terminal renal failure, despite conducted immunosuppressive therapy. Single cases of other variants of GN were described more than 10 years ago. Proteinuria and the rare nephrotic syndrome were clinically observed, which was the reason for intravital renal morphological examination. Immunosuppressive therapy was effective in mesangial proliferative GN and minimal change disease. All cases of focal-segmental glomerulosclerosis, extracapillary GN were accompanied by the formation of terminal renal failure. Favorable prognosis appeared in children with drug-induced membranous nephropathy after their withdrawal. There are publications on a positive therapeutic effect of genetically engineered biological drugs in ANCA-associated GN, IgM-nephropathy, and a hormone-resistant variant of MCD in children with JRA.