IgA nephropathy featuring massive wire loop-like deposits in two patients with alcoholic cirrhosis

BACKGROUND Various renal manifestations are known to develop in patients with liver disease, including chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. CASE PRESENTATION We evaluated renal disease in two 47-year-old Japanese men with liver cirrhosis and chronic alcoholism for 34 years and 27 years, respectively. Renal biopsy demonstrated massive wire loop-like deposits in the subendothelial space of the glomerular basement membrane and in the mesangium. However, immunofluorescence was only positive for IgA and C3, and electron microscopy did not reveal any organized structures in the electron-dense deposits. IgA nephropathy was diagnosed, although the features were different from primary IgA nephropathy. Both patients had portosystemic shunts associated with liver cirrhosis. Their renal deposits and proteinuria resolved completely after 1 year of steroid therapy. CONCLUSION Alcohol abuse may have contributed to development of secondary IgA nephropathy in these two patients, probably via their portosystemic shunts.