Glomerulonephritis (GN) is an invisible, life changing, autoimmune disease. It means inflammation in the kidneys that happens due to the kidney being a target for the body’s over reactive immune system. It is a condition where there is a huge unmet need in understanding why the condition affects the kidneys and this lack of information means that many patients go on to get kidney failure. This project aims to kick start a kidney tissue biobank to consent patients to gift left over kidney biopsy tissue that is currently sat in NHS pathology laboratories. A collection of kidney biopsy tissue for research will rapidly accelerate research in this field. The project will also use this kidney tissue to perform a detailed test called transcriptomics to begin to see what genes are different in kidney inflammation. This will direct better treatments. As children are a vulnerable population it will focus on accelerating this field for children by testing the collection of samples from two large children’s hospitals and one adult hospital as a test to see if a national resource can be created.
The project started in September 2023 and will run for two years in the first instance.
Back to: Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre for Children