A chemotactic inhibitory factor in the minimal change nephrotic syndrome.

This study attempts to investigate the role of neutrophil in the increased incidence of infection in nephrotic syndrome. We investigated the function of neutrophils in the various categories of nephritis and the relationship to the response of steroid therapy in the nephrotic syndrome. We used peripheral blood for the study of chemotaxis in 62 children suffering from nephritis in the acute phase and in remission. These patients included minimal change nephrotic syndrome (9 cases), focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (3 cases), mesangial cell proliferative nephropathy (23 cases), Hepatitis B antigenemia associated membranous glomerulonephropathy (4 cases), poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (20 cases) and chronic glomerulonephritis (3 cases). The chemotactic index was significantly increased in normal range in the remission stage. The molecular weight of the chemotactic inhibitory factor was estimated to be about 89,000 using Sephacryl S-200 column. All cases of mesangial proliferative nephropathy had nephrotic syndrome with frequent relapses or steroid resistance. These results suggest that the chemotactic index may serve as an important parameter between steroid responsive and non-responsive nephrotic syndrome.