ABSTRACT
Hepatitis C virus [HCV] infection is a hepatotropic virus causing a variety of extrahepatic immunological manifestations and is a risk factor of a variety of extrahepatic diseases, such as mixed cryoglobulinemia and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis [MPGN], which is the most common glomerulonephritis. The aim of this study was to evaluate renal involvement in HCV-infected patients. A total of 300 randomly-selected HCV antibody-positive outpatients at the HCV clinic of Shariati hospital were enrolled. Serum creatinine was measured and glomerular filtration rate was estimated accordingly. Urine proteinuria was measured in 24-hour urine samples. The patients were 249 men [83.2%] and 51 women [16.8%] with a mean age of 37.8 +/- 11.7 years [range, 18 to 70 years]. Proteinuria was found in 12 HCV antibody-positive adults [4%], 1 of whom underwent biopsy. He was a 55-year-old man with a 4-month history of facial and lower extremities edema and 3-g proteinuria with a normal kidney function [glomerular filtration rate, 85 mL/min] and normocomplementemia. Kidney biopsy specimens showed MPGN. The frequency of low glomerular filtration rate was 0.7% [2 patients] in the HCV antibody-positive adults. There was no significant relationship between HCV seropositivity and low glomerular filtration rate. Our observations showed renal involvement in HCV antibody-positive patients. Among immune complex glomerular kidney diseases, MPGN without cryoglobulins is thought to be the most common in these patients