Interaction of antibodies with renal cell surface antigens

Over the past ten years it has been increasingly recognized that immune complex nephritides, characterized by the accumulation of granular immune deposits in renal structures, may not only be the consequence of deposition of circulating immune complexes but also of antigen-antibody complexes aggregated locally or formed in situ [1]. One of the sites at which antibodies may interact locally with antigens in the kidney is at the surface of renal cells [1, 2]. There is an abundance of antigens on cells: part of them are intrinsic plasma membrane proteins, while others may be present because they are secretion products or they have been ‘planted“ on the cell surface for immunological or physico-chemical reasons. In this article renal lesions that may arise from the binding of antibodies with these various kinds of cell surface antigens will be reviewed. Most of our insights come from animal models of renal disease. In the closing section the potential impact of data derived from experimental pathology on our concepts of human nephropathies will be evaluated