title: A case of endocapillary glomerulonephritis associated with peripheral blood natural killer cell proliferation.
abstract: A 69-year-old male was admitted to our hospital due to rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. A peripheral blood smear showed a marked increase in large granular lymphocytes. Flow cytometry analysis of the blood showed a marked increase in CD3-negative and CD56-positive natural killer (NK) cells. A renal biopsy showed a characteristic pathological pattern that involved endocapillary proliferation, a predominance of mononuclear cells and mesangiolysis. Prednisolone was administered, and the patient's renal function subsequently improved concomitant with the amelioration of NK cell proliferation. In our case, there was evidence of a strong association between NK cell proliferation and glomerulonephritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Motoaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazono
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriyasu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fukushima
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigehisa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sanai
authors.affiliation: Center for Research and Development in Higher Education, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
authors.forename: Takanobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakemi
keywords: CD56dim NK cell; NK cell proliferation; endocapillary glomerulonephritis