Frequently relapsing minimal change nephrotic syndrome with natural killer cell deficiency prior to the overt relapse of Hodgkin's disease.

A 15-year-old boy developed minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) during remission of Hodgkin's disease. Natural killer (NK) cell activity was practically absent at the onset of MCNS, with a value of 3% compared with the normal value of 44.1% +/- 7.8% (mean +/- SD). Treatment with prednisolone resulted in transient remission of MCNS and partial improvement of NK cell activity. Extensive investigations for Hodgkin's disease were performed at 1- to 3-month intervals; a relapse finally became apparent 25 months after the diagnosis of MCNS. Successful treatment of Hodgkin's disease resulted in complete disappearance of proteinuria and normalisation of NK cell activity. Frequently relapsing MCNS with NK cells deficiency during remission of Hodgkin's disease appears to imply its subclinical relapse.