In this episode, Kenar and Koyal interview Dr. Astrid Weins, MD, PhD, about nephropathology, new approaches to solving the mysteries of nephrotic syndrome, and her research on anti-nephrin antibodies in minimal change disease. Dr. Weins is Chief of Integrated Renal Pathology at Mass General/Brigham and an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard.

Interested in this topic? Stay tuned for additional new research on anti-nephrin antibodies that will be presented in a Late-Breaking Clinical Trials session on May 25 at the 2024 ERA Congress.

References:

2022 JASN paper proposing nephrin auti-antibodies in MCD:

Watts AJB, Keller KH, Lerner G, Rosales I, Collins AB, Sekulic M, Waikar SS, Chandraker A, Riella LV, Alexander MP, Troost JP, Chen J, Fermin D, Yee JL, Sampson MG, Beck LH Jr, Henderson JM, Greka A, Rennke HG, Weins A. Discovery of Autoantibodies Targeting Nephrin in Minimal Change Disease Supports a Novel Autoimmune Etiology. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2022 Jan;33(1):238-252. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2021060794. Epub 2021 Nov 3. PMID: 34732507; PMCID: PMC8763186.

Examples of Julie Goodwin and Bill Smoyer’s work on the podocyte’s response to steroids:

Zhou H, Tian X, Tufro A, Moeckel G, Ishibe S, Goodwin J. Loss of the podocyte glucocorticoid receptor exacerbates proteinuria after injury. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 29;7(1):9833. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10490-z. PMID: 28852159; PMCID: PMC5575043.

Bhayana S, Zhao Y, Merchant M, Cummins T, Dougherty JA, Kamigaki Y, Pathmasiri W, McRitchie S, Mariani LH, Sumner S, Klein JB, Li L, Smoyer WE; Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium. Multiomics Analysis of Plasma Proteomics and Metabolomics of Steroid Resistance in Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome Using a "Patient-Specific" Approach. Kidney Int Rep. 2023 Mar 23;8(6):1239-1254. doi: 10.1016/j.ekir.2023.03.015. PMID: 37284673; PMCID: PMC10239920.

Pediatric cohort and rapid response to corticosteroids:

Circulating Nephrin Autoantibodies Are Present in Almost 2/3 of Steroid-Naïve Pediatric Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome. Presented at ASN Kidney Week 2023, abstract: SA-OR80. https://www.asn-online.org/education/kidneyweek/2023/program-abstract.aspx?controlId=3946457