Investigation on antibodies to human T cell leukemia virus type I in patients with primary glomerulonephritis

: We investigated on antibodies to human T cell leukemia virus type I (anti HTLV-I) in 101 patients with primary glomerulonephritis in Kagoshima prefecture, an endemic area of HTLV-I in Japan. The positive rate in patients with primary glomerulonephritis was 17.8%, which was not significantly higher than in healthy residents 4741 persons of 11.9% in the same area. Classified by renal biopsy findings, the positive rate in patients with membranous nephropathy was 21.4% (9/42), minimal change nephrotic syndrome 14.3% (2/14), IgA nephropathy 15.4% (2/26), and others 15.8% (3/19) respectively, which were not significantly differed from that in healthy residents. Positivity of aged patients (60 years or over) in membranous nephropathy on the contrary was significantly higher than that in healthy residents (p less than 0.01). Further study is required to clarify the relationship between HTLV-I infection and glomerulonephritis.