“Goodpasture's syndrome”

Goodpasture's syndrome is defined as those with triad of findings : glomerulonephritis, pulmonary hemorrhage and antiglomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) antibody production.Characteristic clinical and histopathological features of Goodpasture's syndrome are reviewed and summarized. Recently, analysis of the anti-GBM antibody by chemical or immunohistological technique has shown the heterogeneity of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) antigenicity, which might be led to the pathophysiological difference between glomerulonephritis with pulmonary hemorrhage in Goodpasture's syndrome and anti-GBM antibody induced glomerulonephritis without alveolar bleeding in rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.Etiology and the mechanism in detail of the anti-GBM antibody production are further to be clarified.