Pathogenic mechanism of childhood idiopathic nephrotic syndrome

Abstract

Pathogenic mechanism of childhood nephrotic syndrome has been investigated for decades, and congenital nephrotic syndrome and early onset steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome has been found to mainly be attributed to podocyte dysfunction. Although many hypotheses regarding the pathogenesis of minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) including immunological abnormalities and podocyte dysfunction have been proved to be valid, the common definitive cause of MCNS has not been identified. Here, different hypotheses regarding the cause of MCNS are reviewed, and the difficulty in resolving the mechanism is discussed.