[Transmission of nephrotic syndrome to two neonates. Spontaneous regression].

Abstract

We report a transient neonatal nephrotic syndrome in two infants born to a mother with idiopathic nephrotic syndromes (INS). The mother, born in Mali in 1966, had a normal first pregnancy, with a normal live child. Six months later a nephrotic syndrome appeared with normal renal function; renal biopsy disclosed slight lesions of focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis. Prednisone and ciclosporin were totally ineffective. In 1986 and 1988 two pregnancies occurred with normal gestation outcome; however, the two births were premature (35 weeks) with hypotrophic infantas (2.160 and 2.080 kg). In both cases urine analysis revealed neonatal heavy proteinuria, with low serum protein and hypoalbuminemia; proteinuria decreased and disappeared within 2 and 3 weeks respectively; simultaneously protidemia and albuminemia were normalized. Thus, a transitory nephrotic syndrome, resolving spontaneously, occurred in two successive offsprings of a patient with INS. These cases are in keeping with the hypothesis that heavy proteinuria in nephrotic syndrome might be linked to a circulating humoral factor and that INS is a disorder linked to T-lymphocyte function with enhanced production of a lymphokine acting on vascular permeability.