Distribution of IgE-bearing cells in renal biopsies in Wegener's granuloma.

A comparison was made between the renal biopsy appearances of Wegener's granuloma, microscopic polyarteritis and diffuse endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis, including the distribution of surface IgE-bearing mast cells. In microscopic polyarteritis and in other inflammatory conditions mast cells were usually associated with areas of interstitial inflammatory infiltrate, whereas in Wegener's granuloma mast cells were usually separate from areas of inflammation, suggesting a role for mast cells in the development of the renal lesion of Wegener's granulomatosis.