Abstract: Objective To investigate the prevalence of PLA2R1 in renal biopsy specimens of patients with idiopathic
membranous nephropathy (IMN) and explore the relationship between PLA2R1 and IMN. Methods A total of 108 adult
patients with biopsy-proved glomerular diseases were enrolled in this study, including 41 with IMN, 2 with hepatitis
B-associated membranous nephropathy, 8 with V lupus nephritis, 27 with IgA nephropathy, 19 with minimal change
nephropathy, 5 with mild mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis, and 6 with focal segmental glomeruloselerosis (FSGS).
Indirect immunofluorescence assay was used to detect PLA2R1 in the biopsy specimens and the clinical variables of the IMN
patients were analyzed. Results In 35 of the 41 (85.37%) patients with IMN, PLA2R1 was detected with a fine granular pattern
in the subepithelial deposits along the glomerular capillary loops. PLA2R1 antigen was not detected in patients with other
glomerulopathies. No significant differences were found in age, serum creatinine, serum albumin, or 24-h urinary protein level
between PLA2R1-positive and negative patients with IMN (P>0.05). Conclusion According to our results, 85.37% of adult
patients with biopsy-proven IMN are positive for PLA2R1 antigen, which, however, does not contribute to variations of the
patients’ clinical manifestations.