Is there an association of hepatitis B virus infection with minimal change disease of nephrotic syndrome? A clinical observational report

Abstract

The rate of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is high in the Chinese population, and the implications of HBV infection are widely recognized, and membranous nephropathy is the most common renal lesion to be associated with HBV infection. Minimal change disease (MCD) is one of the most important histopathological characteristics in patients with nephrotic syndrome. There is no any study to report that HBV infection is associated with the etiology of MCD. Herein, we report four MCD patients with HBV infection and speculate that there is an association of HBV infection with the pathological type of MCD. In this study, we also reported the treatment schedule for these four MCD patients, and found that the anti-virus alone and combination of anti-virus with immunosuppressive agent could obtain a benefit for MCD patients with HBV infection. However, a well-designed study should be performed to confirm this association.

• Glomerulonephritis
• HBV-DNA nephrotic syndrome
• Hepatitis B virus infection
• minimal change disease

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper. This study was supported by the Nature Science Foundation of China (no. 81400719), and the sub-item of 985 Project Foundation of Sun Yat-Sen (The Hundred Talents Program Foundation; No. 88000-3311300).