News

The ISN Frontiers Meeting ‘Complement-related Kidney Diseases: Classification, Genetics, and Treatment‘ will take place in Bergamo, Italy, from June 23-25, 2022.  

Register for the ISN Frontiers Meeting in Bergamo here. 

Meeting Co-chair, Raja Ramachandran, describes what to expect from day two’s sessions on atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), which will present material relevant to both high and lower-resource regions: 

• Understanding atypical HUS: Current understanding of the pathogenesis of atypical HUS remains elusive; presentations on animal models, genetic determinants, and anti-factor H antibodies will help overall understanding of pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets in this condition.   

• Genetic evaluation: Interpretation and limitations, and commercially available anti-CFH kits and their validity will be discussed as preliminary evaluation tools to assess complement dysregulation in a resource-limited setting.  

• Why does atypical HUS affect the kidneys? Despite being a systemic disease, HUS affects the kidney the most. The “Why the kidney” lecture will improve understanding of this clinical condition and present treatment and patient care strategies. 

• The role of plasma exchange and immunosuppressive therapy: As plasma exchange and immunosuppressive therapy are freely available in resource-limited settings, this aspect of HUS patient care will be examined extensively. Notably, the cohort of patients likely to respond to plasma exchange and the diagnostics needed to confirm this likelihood. 

• An improved understanding of the clinical presentation of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia alongside kidney injury to prescribe effective therapeutics and improve prognosis.  

• The monitoring of complement dysregulation in atypical HUS is poorly understood; the “Clinical unanswered question” session’s third lecture addresses this vital question. 

• Eculizumab in HUS: Indication, dosing, and duration of this cornerstone treatment for atypical HUS in kidney disease and kidney transplant patients are uncertain. Experts will highlight the inadequacy of various anti-complement therapies in limited-resource settings and examine strategies to address the therapeutic apartheid.  

• Recent developments: Various therapies under development target complement regulatory proteins. The session on how to inhibit C3 in complement-mediated rare nephropathies includes preliminary results on various phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. 

• In his keynote address, Dr. Fakhouri will present a comprehensive commentary on the pathophysiologic process and therapies for HUS. 

We look forward to welcoming all contributors in this specialist field to a valuable opportunity to share knowledge and advance research. 

The ISN Frontiers meeting in Bergamo is accredited by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME®) – full details here.