[Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis without immune deposits: detection of neutrophil anticytoplasmic antibodies]

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA), are serologic markers of disease in rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis without immune deposits (pauci-immune) and vasculitis, and could play a pathogenic role in these diseases. We communicate 5 patients with pauci-immune rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis; four of them in the evolution of necrotizing systemic vasculitis (Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyarteritis) and one case with lesions limited to the kidney. All of them were associated with the presence of ANCA. The immunofluorescence pattern (cytoplasmic and perinuclear) and the antigenic specificity of ELISA assay, [antiproteinase-3 (PR-3) and antimyeloperoxidase (MOP)], are useful laboratory tools for the diagnosis and clinical management of these patients.