Autologous rosette forming cells in patients with renal diseases.

We studied the distribution of autologous rosette forming cells (ARFC) in the peripheral blood of 30 healthy adult donors, 30 patients with IgA nephropathy, 20 patients with primary glomerular diseases, eight patients with systemic diseases and 25 patients with other renal diseases. The mean percentages of ARFC were markedly reduced in the IgA nephropathy patients compared with the healthy adult donors. The values for ARFC were even more significantly reduced in IgA nephropathy patients compared with patients with primary glomerular diseases, systemic diseases and other renal diseases. This means that the immunoregulatory abberation in IgA nephropathy primarily involves T cells.