Anti-factor H antibody-positive C3 glomerulonephritis secondary to poststreptococcal acute glomerulonephritis with diabetic nephropathy

Poststreptococcal acute kidney glomerulonephritis (PSAGN) has been seen in adults in recent years, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and the renal prognosis has not always been good.

There have been cases of PSAGN in which complete remission was not achieved and hematuria and proteinuria persisted, leading to end-stage renal disease.

Previous reports showed that the patients subjected to PSAGN have an underlying defect in regulating the alternative pathway of complement, and they identified that antibodies to the C3 convertase, C3 nephritic factors (C3NeF), are involved.

C3NeF stabilizes C3 convertase, sustains C3 activation, and causes C3 glomerulonephritis (C3GN).

On the other hand, factor H is a glycoprotein that suppresses the overactivation of the alternative pathway by decaying the C3 convertase.

Anti-factor H (aFH) antibodies interfere with factor H and cause the same activation of the alternative pathway as C3NeF.

However, a limited number of reports describe the clinical course of C3GN with aFH antibodies.

We encountered a 49-year-old Japanese man with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

He was referred to our hospital because of his elevated serum creatinine, proteinuria, hematuria, and developed edema on both legs.

He was diagnosed as PSAGN at the first kidney biopsy, and his renal function improved and edema and hematuria disappeared, but proteinuria persisted after 5 months.

He was diagnosed as C3GN at the second kidney biopsy.

In our case, no C3NeF was detected.

However, a high titer of aFH antibodies was detected in stored serum from the initial presentation, providing a unified diagnosis of aFH antibody-positive C3GN secondary to PSAGN.

He progressed to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and hemodialysis was started.

The persistence of high levels of aFH autoantibodies may have caused C3GN secondary to PSAGN due to activating the alternative complement pathway, which eventually worsened the nephropathy and led to ESRD.