Fig 1.
Comparison of the size and proportion of secondary lymphoid follicles between IgAN and RT tonsils.
(A) Representative images of IgAN (right panels) and RT (left panels) tonsils stained with an anti-HLA-DR antibody. Lower panels illustrate secondary lymphoid follicles indicated with solid lines, mantle zones are marked with the letter “M,” and germinal centers are indicated using dotted circles and marked with “G.” The letter “C” refers to the crypt. Magnification, 40×; scale bar, 500 μm. (B–D) Comparison of the size distribution of lymphoid follicles (B), germinal centers (C), and mantle zone (D) between IgAN (N = 87) and RT (N = 27) tonsils. The median sizes of lymphoid follicles (B), germinal centers (C), and mantle zones (D) in IgAN tonsils were smaller than those in RT tonsils (P < 0.001). (E–G) Comparison of the percentages of lymphoid follicles (% lymphoid follicular area, E), germinal centers (% germinal center area, F), and mantle zones (% mantle zone area, G) in the total tonsillar tissue of the IgAN and RT tonsils. The median % lymphoid follicular area (E) and % germinal center area (F) tonsils were smaller in the IgAN tonsils than in the RT tonsils (P < 0.001). In contrast, the median % mantle zone area (G) was comparable between the IgA and RT tonsils. (H and I) Comparison of the percentages of germinal center area (H) and mantle zone area (I) in the lymphoid follicles of IgAN and RT tonsils. Lymphoid follicles were accompanied by smaller percentages of germinal center area (H) and larger percentages of mantle zone area (I) in IgAN tonsils than in RT tonsils (P < 0.001).
Table 1.
Differences in baseline characteristics in patients with IgAN categorized into tertiles according to percentages of lymphoid follicular area.
Table 2.
Comparisons of kidney pathologies according to tertiles of percentages of lymphoid follicular area.
Fig 2.
Correlation between tonsillar morphological changes, i.e., %LFA and % non-reticular area, and percentage of glomeruli affected in patients with IgAN.
Correlation between (A) %LFA and % glomeruli with global sclerosis, (B) % non-reticular area and % glomeruli with global sclerosis, (C) %LFA and % glomeruli with segmental sclerosis, (D) % non-reticular area and % glomeruli with segmental sclerosis, (E) %LFA and % glomeruli with crescentic lesions, and (F) % non-reticular area and % glomeruli with crescentic lesions. Tonsillar %LFA was negatively correlated with the percentage of glomeruli with global sclerosis (A) (r = –0.38, P < 0.001), segmental sclerosis (C) (r = –0.33, P = 0.001), and crescentic lesions (E) (r = –0.27, P = 0.010). In contrast, % non-reticular area did not show a significant correlation with the percentage of glomeruli affected. Correlations were tested using nonparametric Spearman’s correlation coefficient.
Table 3.
Comparisons of kidney pathologies according to tertiles of the percentages of lymphoid follicular areas.