title: Two new families with hereditary minimal change disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Steroid-sensitive idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (SSINS) is most often encountered in sporadic cases of minimal change disease (MCD). Only rare cases of familial forms of MCD have been reported and most of them only in one generation. The scarcity of data has precluded unraveling the underlying genetic defect and candidate gene approaches have been unsuccessful. Here we report two families with related SSINS cases and review the related literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two siblings and a cousin (first family), and a father and his son (second family), are reported with SSINS due to MCD. Patients have been followed up for more than 12 years and a renal biopsy was performed in three cases, demonstrating typical features of MCD. The course of the disease was remarkable because of several relapses treated with steroids. In three cases, mycophenolate mofetil or cyclosporine was added.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Familial SSINS due to MCD is extremely rare and no genetic defect has been identified so far. Reporting cases of hereditary MCD will allow further genetic studies which will ultimately help unravel the molecular basis of this disease.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Nephrology of West Switzerland, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Hassib
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chehade
authors.forename: Francois
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cachat
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Girardin
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rotman
authors.forename: Antonio Jorge
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fellmann
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bonny
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009402:Nephrosis, Lipoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree