Changing the concepts of immune-mediated glomerular diseases through proteomics.

Standard classification of glomerular diseases is based on histopathologic abnormalities. The recent application of proteomic technologies has resulted in paradigm changes in the understanding and classification of idiopathic membranous nephropathy and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Those examples provide evidence that proteomics will lead to advances in understanding of the molecular basis of other glomerular diseases, such as lupus nephritis. Proof of principle experiments show that proteomics can be applied to patient renal biopsy specimens. This viewpoint summarizes the advances in immune-mediated glomerular diseases that have relied on proteomics, and potential future applications are discussed.