Comparative analysis of membranous and other nephropathy subtypes and establishment of a diagnostic model

Abstract

This study aimed to compare clinical features between membranous nephropathy (MN) and nonmembranous nephropathy (non-MN), to explore the clinically differential diagnosis of these two types, and to establish a diagnostic model of MN. After renal biopsy was obtained, 798 patients were divided into two groups based on their examination results: primary MN group (n = 248) and non-MN group (n = 550). Their data were statistically analyzed. Logistic regression analysis indicated that anti-PLA2R antibodies, IgG, and Cr were independently correlated with MN, and these three parameters were then used to establish the MN diagnostic model. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve confirmed that our diagnostic model could distinguish between patients with and without MN, and their corresponding sensitivity, specificity, and AUC were 79.9%, 89.4%, and 0.917, respectively. The cutoff value for this combination in MN diagnosis was 0.34. The established diagnostic model that combined multiple factors shows a potential for broad clinical applications in differentiating primary MN from other kidney diseases and provides reliable evidence supporting the feasibility of noninvasive diagnosis of kidney diseases.

Keywords

multiparameter analysis / diagnosis / model / membranous nephropathy

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by (1) National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFC1305500), (2) the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61471399 and 61671479), (3) Innovation Nursery Fund of PLA General Hospital (No. 15KMZ04), and (4) the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81401719).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Hanyu Zhu, Bo Fu, Yong Wang, Jing Gao, Qiuxia Han, Wenjia Geng, Xiaoli Yang, Guangyan Cai, Xiangmei Chen, and Dong Zhang declare that they have no conflict of interest. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Chinese PLA General Hospital. Written informed consent was obtained from each patient.

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