What is HIVICK?
HIVICK represents a group of histologically different glomerular diseases in HIV patients that share a similar pathogenesis: immune complex injury.
The types of glomerular histology within the HIVICK family include membranous, IgA nephropathy, diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (SLE-like), and a membranoproliferative pattern.
The immune complexes in all these lesions contain HIV antigens, which confirm the dependence of the lesion on active viremia.
A second group of immune complex diseases that represent part of HIVICK is glomerulonephritis secondary to the infections that superimpose themselves in advanced HIV. In these cases, the bacterial, viral, or fungal antigens (but not the HIV antigens) form the immune complex.
Both of these groups are classified as HIVICK.
In contrast to HIVAN, there is no association of the APOL1 variants and the development of HIVICK.
