Review paper
Immune processes at the level of the nephron. The immune system and its compartmentalization

The immune system, although regarded as a functional aggregate that acts as a whole, is compartmentalized at the level of many organs, allowing a division of labour during an immune response. The concept of compartmentalization has been recently highlighted in the lymphoid organs and signalled at the level of the digestive and the respiratory tracts.

The immune processes take place at the level of the nephron in well-defined compartments, corresponding to the morpho-functional compartments of the nephron: glomerular, tubulo-interstitial and juxtaglomerular.

The activation of the nephron compartments during immune processes is related to the immune receptors, especially Toll-like receptors. An important role during immune processes in these compartments is played by ATII receptors.

The immune compartmentalization of the nephron is based on the compartment specificity of chemokines, dendritic cells and T and B cells and complement. The immune-mediated diseases follow the immune compartmentalization of the nephron: glomerular, tubulointerstitial and vascular diseases.

The proposed compartmentalization concept of the nephron comes within the general compartmentalization of the immune system in lymphoid organs and in other organs and tissues.