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CASE REPORT article

Front. Nephrol.

Sec. Glomerular disease

Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneph.2025.1593927

This article is part of the Research TopicPregnancy and Glomerular DiseaseView all articles

Case Report: Full-House Renal-Limited Lupus-like Nephritis in Pregnancy

Provisionally accepted
Lucille Jane WilkinsonLucille Jane Wilkinson1*Sally StauderSally Stauder1Brady CulpepperBrady Culpepper1Jalal IbrahimJalal Ibrahim2Vivekanand PantangiVivekanand Pantangi3Prathap Kumar SimhadriPrathap Kumar Simhadri3
  • 1College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, United States
  • 2Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine-Bradenton, Bradenton, Florida, United States
  • 3Advent Health, Daytona Beach, United States

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Lupus nephropathy is a common manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), with immunemediated inflammatory damage to the glomerulus leading to acute kidney injury, chronic kidney disease, and end-stage renal disease. Occasionally, patients present with renal-limited lupus nephropathy with classic full-house staining on immunofluorescence and no signs of systemic lupus. Limited data are available on renal-limited "lupus-like nephropathy" in pregnancy.A 24-year-old G1P0 woman at 14 weeks of gestation was referred to nephrology for further evaluation of 8.4g proteinuria. She was found to be ANA negative with a decreased C1q level and a renal biopsy revealing membranous nephropathy. Immunofluorescence staining was positive for IgG, IgA, IgM, C3, and C1Q, consistent with full-house pattern. She was started on 500 mg pulse dose methylprednisolone for 3 days, which was gradually tapered to 5 mg daily, and cyclosporine 75 mg BID. She delivered a healthy baby via induction at 36 weeks. Six-month follow-up revealed 1g protein on 24-hour urine collection, normal C3/C4 levels, and no signs of SLE. This case report adds to the literature discussing renal-limited "lupus-like nephropathy" in pregnancy and helps guide further management of this condition.

Keywords: full house nephropathy1, lupus like nephritis2, lupus nephropathy3, renal limited lupus4, nephrotic syndrome5, nephrotic syndrome in pregnancy6, lupus in pregnancy7, Membranous

Received: 14 Mar 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wilkinson, Stauder, Culpepper, Ibrahim, Pantangi and Simhadri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Lucille Jane Wilkinson, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, United States

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