What is IgA Nephropathy?
Think of your kidneys as small but powerful filtration plants whose job is to keep your blood clean and the bodys chemical balance maintained. Each day the kidneys process about 200 quarts of fluid through their two million tiny treatment plans, the nephrons. Within the nephron is the glomerulus, a tangle of fine capillaries that filter the blood before passing it on to the tubules, where the kidneys continually adjust the filtrate to your bodys needs, adding back chemicals removed during filtration or drawing off more water. Whats needed by the body is returned to the bloodstream; whats not needed is excreted as urine. In IgA Nephropathy [IgAN], unknown agents cause the glomeruli to become and to stay inflamed. IgAN is the worlds most common glomerulonephritis [inflammation of the glomeruli], but its pathogenesis [how the disease develops] is not known. IgAN is considered to be an immune-complex mediated disorder (or immunologically mediated disorder), which means that immune complexe
