Experimental cholestasis promotes the deposition of glomerular IgA immune complexes.

Previous experimental and clinical studies support a role for the hepatobiliary system in the clearance of oligomeric IgA from serum, and alterations of this system have been associated with the deposition of IgA in the renal mesangium. The present studies in mice address the question of whether the mesangial deposition of IgA following cholestasis includes immune complexes. While bile duct ligation resulted in mesangial IgA deposition within several days in approximately 75% of animals, whether deliberately orally immunized, nonimmunized, or given injected immune complexes, mice that underwent sham operations had IgA deposits only if orally immunized. Moreover, mice that had been orally immunized or given injected immune complexes and whose bile ducts had been ligated contained deposits of specific IgA antibody and antigen. In the ligated mice some of the IgA was secretory IgA, as demonstrated by the presence of secretory component. Thus, bile duct ligation promotes the deposition of circulating IgA immune complexes, presumably by decreasing their clearance from serum, and gives rise to secretory IgA in the glomerular mesangium. The secretory immune system probably plays a role in the pathogenesis of idiopathic and cirrhosis-related human IgA nephropathy.