The Expression And Significance Of Podocin In Glomerular Of Patients With Secondary Glomerular Disease

Objective: To investigate the expression and distribution of podocin in glomerular of patients with secondary glomerular disease and there relationships with clinical and pathological manifestations. Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression and distribution of podocin in glomerular of patients with IgA nephropathy (IgAN, n=8),lupus nephritis (LN, n=16),Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis (HSPN, n=6) and control group(n=5) , the possible correlation between the expression of podocin in glomerular of patients and clinical and pathological indexs were analyzed. Results: (1) In control group, the distribution of podocin showed a fine linear pattern along glomerular basement membrane. However, in IgAN,LN and HSPN showed a discontinuous dotted or pieced patterns. (2) Compared with the control group, the expression of podocin was significantly lower in disease group (p = 0．01) . There were different expressions among the subgroups. The expression of podocin in glomerular of IgAN decreased, but there was no statistical significance compared with the control group. The difference of expression of podocin in glomerular between the LN,it' s subgroups and the control group had significance(LN,LN in classⅣp<0．01, LN in classⅡp<0．05) . The expression of podocin in glomerular of the LN in classⅣwas more lower than that in the LN in classⅡ, which had significance(p<0．05) . The difference of expression of podocin in glomerular between the HSPN and the control group(p<0．01) , IgAN and LN,LN in classⅣ(p<0．01) , IgAN and HSPN(p<0．01) had significance. The difference of expression of podocin in glomerular between IgAN and LN in classⅡ,the HSPN and the LN,LN in classⅣ,LN in classⅡhad no significance(p>0．05) . (3) Glomerular podocin of IgAN had no correlation with clinical indexs. Glomerular podocin of LN,LN in classⅣ,LN in classⅡ,HSPN was negatively correlated with the quantity of 24 hours proteinuria(p<0．05 or p<0．01) . Conclusions: The expression of podocin in glomerular of LN and HSPN decrease significantly and show abnormal distribution patterns, which may affect the permeability of glomerular filtration barrier and induce proteinuria. In IgAN, maybe there are some other reasons causing proteinuria. The expression of podocin In glomerular of LN is correlated with pathological type of LN, the more severe of the pathological lesion, the lesser expression of podocin in glomerular. Therefore, the decreased expression and abnormal distribution of podocin in glomerular may play important roles in kidney damage and proteinuria in human LN and HSPN.