Balkan nephropathy: evolution of our knowledge

Abstract

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN), originally described in the late 1950s as a chronic tubulointerstitial kidney disease, is identified by its unique epidemiological features. The most remarkable characteristic of BEN is the focal topographical nature that characterizes its occurrence at the global, national, and even household level. BEN affects only certain endemic rural foci along tributaries of the Danube River in the Balkan countries of Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia. The spatial distribution has remained astonishingly unchanged with time because the disease affects the same endemic clusters as 50 years ago. The natural course of the disease is characterized by universal development of end-stage renal disease and the frequent development of upper urinary tract tumors, posing a substantial disease burden to the afflicted areas. The greatest challenge in the study of BEN has been the elucidation of its cause. The unique features of the disease, in particular its endemic nature and the long incubation period required for the disease to develop, have led to the proposal that BEN represents a unique environmental disease. The quest for the responsible environmental factor has been long and diverse, and although no definitive answer has been provided to date, converging lines of evidence support the theory that long-term consumption of food contaminated with aristolochic acid underlies the pathogenesis of BEN. The present review describes the evolution of our knowledge of BEN in relation to the development of the main theories for its pathogenesis.

Figure 1

Histological features of Balkan endemic nephropathy. The dense interstitial fibrosis is in contrast to the preservation of glomeruli. (Adapted from Nadasdy and Sedmak, with permission.)

Figure 2

Map shows the distribution of endemic foci of Balkan nephropathy. (Adapted with permission from Stefanovic and Cosyns.⁸)

Figure 3

Aristolochia clematitis (birthwort) as shown in an illustration from Otto Wilhelm Thomé's Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, reproduced from www.biolib.de with permission from Kurt Stueber.