Nephrin Loss Can Be Used to Predict Remission and Long-term Renal Outcome In Patients With Minimal Change Disease

Introduction: Minimal change disease is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome. In general, patients with minimal change disease respond to corticosteroids and have excellent long-term renal survival. However, some patients have less favorable outcome. These patients are often thought to have progressed to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. We previously reported that a segmental loss of podocyte markers is present before the development of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in a rat model. Here, we investigated whether loss of podocyte marker nephrin can serve as a biomarker for predicting poor outcome in patients with minimal change disease.

Methods: We obtained 47 kidney biopsy samples from patients diagnosed with minimal change disease and stained sections with periodic acid-Schiff and for nephrin. Nephrin loss was scored by 2 independent researchers who were blinded to clinical outcome. Clinical data were collected retrospectively, and nephrin loss was correlated with clinical follow-up data.

Results: Nephrin loss was present in 34% of the biopsy samples. During follow-up, patients with nephrin loss achieved remission less frequently (61%) compared to patients without (96%) ( = 0.002). Moreover, 5-year eGFR was lower in the patients with renal nephrin loss. The risk of eGFR decreasing to < 60 ml/min per 1.73m increased with each percentage of glomeruli with nephrin loss (hazard ratio = 1.044, 95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.07).

Conclusion: These results indicate that nephrin loss in patients with minimal change disease can help predict both remission and long-term renal outcome.