Recurrent glomerulonephritis in human renal homografts.

Recurrent glomerulonephritis in kidneys transplanted to glomerulonephritic recipients is becoming more obvious. It has been suggested that the disease process which caused the original disease in the recipient is also operative in the transplanted tissue. This study compared the ultrastructure and immunofluorescence of the native kidneys of four patients with their respective sequential, transplant biopsies. In each case, subepithelial humps and IgG, characteristic of a complex type of nephritis, were observed in both the original diseased kdineys and in the transplants. This would indicate that the immunopathologic process which caused the original glomerulonephritis and led to transplantation is also operative in the transplanted tissue.