The serum level of anti-phospholipase A2 receptor antibody does not predict severity of proteinuria in primary membranous glomerulonephritis

Introduction: Anti-phospholipase A2 receptor (anti-PLA2r) antibody is a marker in blood and has been recently reported that it is increased in patients with primary membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN). Objectives: To investigate the role of this receptor in severity of proteinuria in primary MGN, we evaluated the relationship between serum level of this receptor and proteinuria in patients with primary MGN. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on patients with primary MGN referring to the nephrology clinic in Qazvin province during 2016-2017. Serum level of anti-PLA2r and level of proteinuria before and after medical treatments were measured. Anti-PLA2r was measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Results: Anti-PLA2r was positive and negative in 42.3% and 57.7% of the patients with primary MGN, respectively. There was no significant relationship between serum level of anti-PLA2r and level of proteinuria before and after the medical treatments. Conclusion: Our data show that anti-PLA2r could not predict the severity of proteinuria in patients with primary MGN.