Clinical Proteomics and Metabolomics Unit, School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20854 Vedano al Lambro, Italy.
Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Apr 23;23(9):4664. doi: 10.3390/ijms23094664.
The podocyte injury, and consequent proteinuria, that characterize the pathology of idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) is mediated by an autoimmune reaction against podocyte antigens. In particular, the activation of pathways leading to abundant renal deposits of complement is likely to involve the binding of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) to aberrant glycans on immunoglobulins. To obtain a landscape of circulatory IgG Fc glycosylation characterizing this disease, we conducted a systematic N-glycan profiling study of IgG1, 2, and 4 by mass spectrometry. The cohort included 57 IMN patients, a pathological control group with nephrotic syndrome (PN) ( = 20), and 88 healthy control subjects. The effect of sex and age was assessed in all groups and controlled by rigorous matching. Several IgG Fc glycan traits were found to be associated with IMN. Interestingly, among them, only IgG4-related results were specific for IMN and not for PN. Hypo-galactosylation of IgG4, already shown for IMN, was observed to occur in the absence of core fucose, in line with a probable increase of pro-inflammatory IgG. In addition, elevated levels of fucosylated IgG4, along with low levels of hybrid-type glycans, were detected. Some of these IgG4 alterations are likely to be more pronounced in high PLA2R (phospholipase A2 receptor) patients. IgG Fc glycosylation patterns associated with IMN warrant further studies of their role in disease mechanisms and may eventually enrich the diagnostic spectrum regarding patient stratification.
足细胞损伤以及随之而来的蛋白尿是特发性膜性肾病(IMN)病理学的特征,其是由针对足细胞抗原的自身免疫反应介导的。特别是,导致大量补体在肾脏沉积的途径的激活可能涉及甘露聚糖结合凝集素(MBL)与免疫球蛋白上异常糖基的结合。为了获得描述这种疾病的循环 IgG Fc 糖基化图谱,我们通过质谱法对 IgG1、2 和 4 进行了系统的 N-糖基化谱分析研究。该队列包括 57 名 IMN 患者、一组肾病综合征(PN)的病理对照组(=20)和 88 名健康对照组。在所有组中都评估了性别和年龄的影响,并通过严格匹配进行了控制。发现几种 IgG Fc 糖基特征与 IMN 相关。有趣的是,在这些特征中,只有与 IgG4 相关的结果是 IMN 特有的,而不是 PN 特有的。已经在 IMN 中观察到的 IgG4 的低半乳糖基化,在没有核心岩藻糖的情况下发生,与可能增加的促炎 IgG 一致。此外,还检测到高糖基化 IgG4 和低糖基化杂合型糖的水平升高。这些 IgG4 改变中的一些可能在高 PLA2R(磷脂酶 A2 受体)患者中更为明显。与 IMN 相关的 IgG Fc 糖基化模式值得进一步研究其在疾病机制中的作用,并最终可能丰富有关患者分层的诊断谱。