IgA Nephropathy (Berger's Disease) is a chronic kidney disease that often
first appears during adolescence and young adulthood and often progress to Renal
Failure. It usually follows a viral infection of the upper respiratory or
gastrointestinal tracts. The major symptoms include blood in urine (hematuria),
protein in urine, occasionally associated pain in the loin area. Then what
causes IgA Nephropathy?
IgA Nephropathy belongs to a kind of mucosal immune deficiency disease.
Patients with this disorder may have two deficiencies of the body: the mucosal
immune deficiency causes IgA receptor abnormalities in the body; abnormal
structure of IgA antibody.
IgA Nephropathy occurs due to either of the above structural abnormalities.
In this case, when you are affected by infections of the upper respiratory
tract, urinary system, or gastrointestinal tract, etc, you are more likely to
develop IgA Nephropathy. Moreover, without effective control of the infection,
the disease may relapse easily.
When you get an infection, there will be excessive inflammatory response
within the body. And the normal renal glomerular mesangial cells can be damaged,
so their filtration function is impaired. Consequently, macromolecules like
protein and red blood cells are released into the urine. In clinical, patients
will present proteinuria and hematuria.
Prompt treatment in the early stage can still reverse the illness condition.
However, if the tissue become scarred, IgA Nephropathy will progress to
end-stage renal disease (ESRD), or even Uremia. Therefore, you had better treat
it as early as possible.
In 2012, the newest treatment for immune defect kidney disease including IgA
Nephropathy is called immunotherapy. It can treat IgA Nephropathy from the
perspective of immune regulation. Many patients with refractory kidney disease
have been treated successfully by immunotherapy. Therefore, if you are still
looking for better therapy for your illness, immunotherpay can be a good
choice.