Shao-yu Zhang
INSERM, France
Title: Nephrotic syndrome in small cell lung cancer and induction of C-MIP in podocytes
Biography
Biography: Shao-yu Zhang
Abstract
Paraneoplastic nephrotic syndrome is often a complication in patients with cancer, and various histologic lesions have been described in the kidney. We report the case of a 76-year-old woman who presented with a podocytopathy that was found to be associated with a small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC). One cycle of carboplatin-etoposide combination therapy led to resolution of nephrotic syndrome and remission of the lung carcinoma. C-Maf–inducing protein (CMIP) was overexpressed in both podocytes and cancer cells, but was not found in control kidney and lung tissue samples. CMIP also was absent in SCLC cells from 30 patients without nephrotic syndrome. Exposing cultured podocytes to a sample of our patient’s serum that was collected prior to chemotherapy led to disorganization of the podocyte cytoskeleton and induction of CMIP expression, which was not observed with control serum or our patient’s serum sampled after chemotherapy. These observations suggest that CMIP may play a significant role in SCLC-related podocytopathy and that a circulating factor likely induces its expression in the kidney.