[Heavy chain deposition disease: report of a case and review of the literature].

A 35-year old woman was admitted to our hospital because of systemic edema. Laboratory examination revealed that she had Bence Jones protein(lambda), hypocomplementemia, and proteinuria(0.5 g/day). Renal biopsy showed nodular glomerular lesions with IgG heavy chain and C3 deposition, but not other immunoglobulin and light chains. An extensive study about the character of circulating and deposited IgG demonstrated that the complexes of CH2-CH3 lacking CH1 domain was an important factor in the glomerular heavy chain deposition.