Phase 1 Trial of Adalimumab in Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS): II. Report of the FONT (Novel Therapies for Resistant FSGS) Study Group

Patients with primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) resistant to current treatment regimens are at high risk of progression to end stage kidney disease. Antifibrotic agents, such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) antagonists, are a promising strategy to slow or halt the decline in renal function, based on preclinical and clinical data

Personalized prophylactic anticoagulation decision analysis in patients with membranous nephropathy

Primary membranous nephropathy is associated with increased risk of venous thromboembolic events, which are inversely correlated with serum albumin levels. To evaluate the potential benefit of prophylactic anticoagulation (venous thromboembolic events prevented) relative to the risk (major bleeds), we constructed a Markov decision model. The venous thromboembolic event risk according to serum albumin was obtained from an inception cohort of 898 patients with primary membranous nephropathy. Risk estimates of hemorrhage were obtained from a systematic literature review. Benefit-to-risk ratios were predicted according to bleeding risk and serum albumin. This ratio increased with worsening hypoalbuminemia from 4.5:1 for an albumin under 3 g/dl to 13.1:1 for an albumin under 2 g/dl in patients at low bleeding risk. Patients at intermediate bleeding risk with an albumin under 2 g/dl have a moderately favorable benefit-to-risk ratio (under 5:1). Patients at high bleeding risk are unlikely to benefit from prophylactic anticoagulation regardless of albuminemia. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis, to account for uncertainty in risk estimates, confirmed these trends. From these data, we constructed a tool to estimate the likelihood of benefit based on an individual’s bleeding risk profile, serum albumin level, and acceptable benefit-to-risk ratio (http://www.gntools.com). This tool provides an approach to the decision of prophylactic anticoagulation personalized to the individual’s needs and adaptable to dynamic changes in health status and risk profile

Acquired pure red cell aplasia: updated review of treatment

Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) is a syndrome characterized by a severe normocytic anaemia, reticulocytopenia, and absence of erythroblasts from an otherwise normal bone marrow. Primary PRCA, or secondary PRCA which has not responded to treatment of the underlying disease, is treated as an immunologically-mediated disease. Although vigorous immunosuppressive treatments induce and maintain remissions in a majority of patients, they carry an increased risk of serious complications. Corticosteroids were used in the treatment of PRCA and this has been considered the treatment of first choice although relapse is not uncommon. Cyclosporine A (CsA) has become established as one of the leading drugs for treatment of PRCA. However, common concerns have been the number of patients treated with CsA who achieve sustained remissions and the number that relapse. This article reviews the current status of CsA therapy and compares it to other treatments for diverse PRCAs

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Patterns of Children and Adults With IgA Nephropathy or IgA Vasculitis: Findings From the CureGN Study

Introduction: The Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network (CureGN) is a 66-center longitudinal observational study of patients with biopsy-confirmed minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous nephropathy, or IgA nephropathy (IgAN), including IgA vasculitis (IgAV). This study describes the clinical characteristics and treatment patterns in the IgA cohort, including comparisons between IgAN versus IgAV and adult versus pediatric patients. Methods: Patients with a diagnostic kidney biopsy within 5 years of screening were eligible to join CureGN. This is a descriptive analysis of clinical and treatment data collected at the time of enrollment. Results: A total of 667 patients (506 IgAN, 161 IgAV) constitute the IgAN/IgAV cohort (382 adults, 285 children). At biopsy, those with IgAV were younger (13.0 years vs. 29.6 years, P < 0.001), more frequently white (89.7% vs. 78.9%, P = 0.003), had a higher estimated glomerular filtration rate (103.5 vs. 70.6 ml/min per 1.73 m2, P < 0.001), and lower serum albumin (3.4 vs. 3.8 g/dl, P < 0.001) than those with IgAN. Adult and pediatric individuals with IgAV were more likely than those with IgAN to have been treated with immunosuppressive therapy at or prior to enrollment (79.5% vs. 54.0%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: This report highlights clinical differences between IgAV and IgAN and between children and adults with these diagnoses. We identified differences in treatment with immunosuppressive therapies by disease type. This description of baseline characteristics will serve as a foundation for future CureGN studies

The Oxford IgA nephropathy clinicopathological classification is valid for children as well as adults

To study the predictive value of biopsy lesions in IgA nephropathy in a range of patient ages we retrospectively analyzed the cohort that was used to derive a new classification system for IgA nephropathy. A total of 206 adults and 59 children with proteinuria over 0.5 g/24 h/ 1.73 m2and an eGFR of stage-3 or better were followed for a median of 69 months. At the time of biopsy, compared with adults children had a more frequent history of macroscopic hematuria, lower adjusted blood pressure, and higher eGFR but similar proteinuria. Although their outcome was similar to that of adults, children had received more immunosuppressants and achieved a lower follow-up proteinuria. Renal biopsies were scored for variables identified by an iterative process as reproducible and independent of other lesions. Compared with adults, children had significantly more mesangial and endocapillary hypercellularity, and less segmental glomerulosclerosis and tubulointerstitial damage, the four variables previously identified to predict outcome independent of clinical assessment. Despite these differences, our study found that the cross-sectional correlation between pathology and proteinuria was similar in adults and children. The predictive value of each specific lesion on the rate of decline of renal function or renal survival in IgA nephropathy was not different between children and adults

The Oxford classification of IgA nephropathy: pathology definitions, correlations, and reproducibility

Pathological classifications in current use for the assessment of glomerular disease have been typically opinion-based and built on the expert assumptions of renal pathologists about lesions historically thought to be relevant to prognosis. Here we develop a unique approach for the pathological classification of a glomerular disease, IgA nephropathy, in which renal pathologists first undertook extensive iterative work to define pathologic variables with acceptable inter-observer reproducibility. Where groups of such features closely correlated, variables were further selected on the basis of least susceptibility to sampling error and ease of scoring in routine practice. This process identified six pathologic variables that could then be used to interrogate prognostic significance independent of the clinical data in IgA nephropathy (described in the accompanying article). These variables were (1) mesangial cellularity score; percentage of glomeruli showing (2) segmental sclerosis, (3) endocapillary hypercellularity, or (4) cellular/ fibrocellular crescents; (5) percentage of interstitial fibrosis/ tubular atrophy; and finally (6) arteriosclerosis score. Results for interobserver reproducibility of individual pathological features are likely applicable to other glomerulonephritides, but it is not known if the correlations between variables depend on the specific type of glomerular pathobiology. Variables identified in this study withstood rigorous pathology review and statistical testing and we recommend that they become a necessary part of pathology reports for IgA nephropathy. Our methodology, translating a strong evidence-based dataset into a working format, is a model for developing classifications of other types of renal disease