Membranous glomerulopathy and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in children.

Histological examination of renal biopsies in 64 Neapolitan children aged 13 months to 14 years who presented with nephrotic syndrome or persistent hematuria and/or proteinuria revealed membranous glomerulopathy (M.G.) in 14. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was found in the serum of 9/14 children with M.G. and in 1/14 children in an age and sex matched control group. The prevalence of HBsAg positivity in the M.G. children suggests a relationship between HBV infection and the disease. The high prevalence of males in HBsAg positive M.G. children suggests that males have an increased risk of contracting M.G. The absence of chronic liver disease in 8/9 HBsAg positive M.G. patients, and the lack of correlation between the clinical manifestations of kidney disease and the rate of HBV replication indicate that different mechanisms underlie the hepatic and renal pathologies.