The clinical significance of asymptomatic low molecular weight proteinuria detected on routine screening of children in Japan: a survey of 53 patients.
A nationwide questionnaire survey uncovered 53 patients with asymptomatic low molecular weight (LMW) proteinuria, 52 males and one female, aged 3 to 32 years. There was a slight tendency toward shortening stature with increasing age. Mild proteinuria was present in all of them, and microscopic hematuria was occasionally noted in one-fourth, while glucosuria or aminoaciduria was rare. The share of their urinary LMW proteins was increased as evidenced by an increase in the alpha-globulin fraction on cellulose-acetate membrane electrophoresis (27 patients) and/or by an increase in the LMW proteins on sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (17 patients). Urinary beta 2-microglobulin, one of the LMW proteins, was measured and proved to be increased but electrophoretic analyses were not performed in 25 patients. Urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase activity, an indicator of renal proximal tubular damage, was elevated in 31 of 38 patients studied: Histological studies of renal biopsies revealed focal changes: focal global sclerosis in seven and tubular atrophy and/or tubular casts in nine out of 32 patients studied.
Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University School of Medicine, Japan.
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Murakami
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Kawakami
D000118:Acetylglucosaminidase / Q000652:urine; D000510:Alpha-Globulins / Q000652:urine; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D008297:Male; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000652:urine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000652:urine
D000510:Alpha-Globulins; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin; D000118:Acetylglucosaminidase