Recurrent glomerular disease in the kidney allograft.

Glomerulonephritis is responsible for nearly 15% of prevalent end-stage renal disease, and many of these patients will receive kidney transplants with the potential for a long duration of allograft survival. Recurrent glomerular disease, however, is not uncommon and can lead to both substantial morbidity and/or loss of the kidney allograft. The timing of recurrence after transplantation as well as the prevalence of recurrent disease vary by study, especially accounting for differences in protocol versus clinically-indicated biopsies, the use of immunofluorescence or electron microscopy in histopathological evaluation, and length of follow-up. Transplant immunosuppression alone may be sufficient to keep some recurrent disease in a subclinical form, whereas other recurrent glomerular diseases may be clinically evident and progress to threaten the allograft. This review highlights the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of five common glomerular diseases that may recur in the transplant: focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), membranous nephropathy (MN), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), and lupus nephritis (LN).