Spontaneous recovery from early glomerular inflammation is associated with resistance to anti-GBM glomerulonephritis: tolerance and autoimmune tissue injury.

The epitope sequence was cited in Robertson at al. Kidney Int. 2005 Sep;68(3):1061-70 [PMID: 16105036]. Immunization with the epitope did lead to transient GBM glomerulonephritis in Lewis rats. An infiltration of leukocytes was observed at 20-25 days after immunization. GBM-bound IgG was not detected. The leukocytes vanished from the glomeruli after day 25. At day 30, the glomeruly returned to almost normal size. The CD4+ population increased in size on day 20 but disappeared after day 30. Expression of inflammatory molecules was also determined. One of 11 tested Wistar Kyoto/Lewis F1 developed GBM glomerulonephritis.