The Antigenic Landscape of Pediatric Membranous Nephropathy

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is rare in children, comprising 3% of pediatric nephrotic syndrome 1. MN may be under-recognized in children, however, as the majority are empirically treated with corticosteroids for suspected podocytopathy and do not undergo biopsy. While MN is well-characterized in adults, clinicopathologic characteristics and the antigenic distribution of pediatric MN is lacking, with only one large cohort of pediatric MN patients reported 2. The antigen distribution of MN in adults in the United States is different from Eastern cohorts from India and China 3,4, likely due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.