Kidney Medicine最新文献

C3 glomerulopathy is a rare disease caused by fluid phase dysregulation of the alternative complement pathway. Currently, treatment depends on clinical and histological severity and includes nephroprotection, unspecific immunosuppression, and terminal complement blockers (C5), without having an etiological treatment approved. C3 glomerulopathy has high recurrence rates after kidney transplantation with a high risk of graft loss. Fortunately, new molecules are being developed that specifically target the proximal alternative complement pathway, such as iptacopan, a factor B inhibitor that showed promising results in native kidneys and cases of transplant recurrence in a phase 2 clinical trial. We present 2 “real-world” cases of C3 glomerulopathy recurrence in kidney allografts treated with iptacopan, with initial excellent clinical response and safety profile, especially with early introduction. We also present follow-up biopsies that showed no C3 deposition during factor B inhibition. Our cases suggest that proximal blockade of the alternative complement pathway can be effective and safe in the treatment of C3 glomerulopathy recurrence in kidney transplantation, bringing other questions such as dual blockade (eg, in C3 and C5), the optimal patient profile to benefit from factor B inhibition or treatment duration and its potential use in other forms of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (eg, immune complex-mediated).

Kidney transplant candidates with high anti–M-type phospholipase A2 receptor antibody activity may be at increased risk for early postkidney transplant recurrence and allograft loss. Pretransplant treatment to induce serological remission may be warranted to improve allograft survival. In this case report, a patient seeking their third kidney transplant, who lost 2 prior living donor transplants from early recurrent membranous nephropathy, underwent pretransplant treatment for membranous nephropathy with serological remission and no evidence of recurrent disease.

An increased urinary albumin excretion rate is an important early risk factor for chronic kidney disease and other major outcomes and is usually measured using the urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR). Obesity is highly prevalent in the general and chronic kidney disease populations and is an independent risk factor for moderately increased albuminuria (henceforth, moderate albuminuria). In this review, we describe how the ACR was developed and used to define moderate albuminuria. We then investigate how biases related to urinary creatinine excretion are introduced into the ACR measurement and how the use of the 30-mg/g threshold decreases the performance of the test in populations with higher muscle mass, with a primary focus on why and how this occurs in the obese population. The discussion then raises several strategies that can be used to mitigate such bias. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the medical literature on the uses and limitations of ACR in individuals with obesity and critically assesses related issues. It also raises into question the widely accepted 30-mg/g threshold as universally adequate for the diagnosis of moderate albuminuria. The implications of our review are relevant for clinicians, epidemiologists, and clinical trialists.

Rationale & Objective

The Kidney Failure Risk Equations have been proven to perform well in multinational databases, whereas validation in Asian populations is lacking. This study sought to externally validate the equations in a community-based chronic kidney disease cohort in China.

Study Design

A retrospective cohort study.

Setting & Participants

Patients with and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73 m² dwelling in an industrialized coastal city of China.

Exposure

Age, sex, eGFR, and albuminuria were included in the 4-variable model, whereas serum calcium, phosphate, bicarbonate, and albumin levels were added to the previously noted variables in the 8-variable model.

Outcome

Initiation of long-term dialysis treatment.

Analytical Approach

Model discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility were evaluated by Harrell’s C statistic, calibration plots, and decision curve analysis, respectively.

Results

A total of 4,587 participants were enrolled for validation of the 4-variable model, whereas 1,414 were enrolled for the 8-variable model. The median times of follow-up were 4.0 (interquartile range: 2.6-6.3) years for the 4-variable model and 3.4 (2.2-5.6) years for the 8-variable model. For the 4-variable model, the C statistics were 0.750 (95% CI: 0.615-0.885) for the 2-year model and 0.766 (0.625-0.907) for the 5-year model, whereas the values were 0.756 (0.629-0.883) and 0.774 (0.641-0.907), respectively, for the 8-variable model. Calibration was acceptable for both the 4-variable and 8-variable models. Decision curve analysis for the models at the 5-year scale performed better throughout different net benefit thresholds than the eGFR-based (<30 mL/min/1.73 m²) strategy.

Limitations

A large proportion of patients lack albuminuria measurements, and only a subset of population could provide complete data for the 8-variable equation.

Conclusions

The kidney failure risk equations showed acceptable discrimination and calibration and better clinical utility than the eGFR-based strategy for incidence of kidney failure among community-based urban Chinese patients with chronic kidney disease.

Plain-Language Summary

Accurate and reliable risk evaluation of chronic kidney disease (CKD) prognosis can be helpful for physicians to make decisions concerning treatment opportunity and therapeutic strategy. The kidney failure risk equation is an outstanding model for predicting risk of kidney failure among patients with CKD. However, the equation is lacking validation among Chinese populations. In the current study, we demonstrated that the equation had good discrimination among an urban community-based cohort of patients with