( nal disease before age 5. But surprisi...)Mutant gene causes severe kidney disease in infants

Hildebrandt and his research team couldn't believe children with the most severe form of nephrotic syndrome had been cured of the disease. So they tracked down their physicians ?one in Israel and one in Turkey ?to confirm that the information was correct.

"These children were very fortunate," Hildebrandt says. "Their physicians told us they decided there was nothing to lose by trying a course of treatment. Based on this information, we now think that there may be a critical time window during which treatment can overcome the development defects caused by PLCE1's loss of function."

The discovery has important implications for pediatric nephrologists and pediatricians who treat infants with nephrotic syndrome, according to Hildebrandt.

"In very early-onset nephrotic syndrome, it's important to find out if the child has mutations in PLCE1," says Hildebrandt. "Some infants with PLCE1 mutations might be treated successfully with steroids. It's not a golden bullet, but there's a slim chance, if the treatment is given early.

"Unfortunately, mutations in other podocyte genes, like NPHS2 ?also referred to as podocin ?are more common," he adds. "Based on all our knowledge so far, there is no effective therapy when nephrotic syndrome develops as a result of podocin mutations."

In future research, Hildebrandt and colleagues will continue searching for the causes of nephrotic syndrome. Using zebrafish that lack working copies of plce1, they hope to identify drugs that could reverse the damage to podocytes and the glomerulus caused by the disease.

"Because PLCE1 is an enzyme, we have a much better chance of finding ways to modify its activity," Hildebrandt explains. "Using the zebrafish model, we can do high-throughput screening o
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Source:University of Michigan Health System