Francesco paolo Schena

• University of Bari Aldo Moro

This narrative review explores two case scenarios related to immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) and the application of predictive monitoring, big data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) in improving treatment outcomes. The first scenario discusses how online service providers accurately understand consumer preferences and needs through the...

This narrative review shed light on the use of transcriptomics in the analysis of kidney biopsies and urinary cell samples from patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) or lupus nephritis (LN). The conventional methods of examining kidney biopsy through light microscopy, immunofluorescence and electron microscopy provide valuable clinical...

Introduction Low glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a leading cause of reduced lifespan in type 2 diabetes. Unravelling biomarkers capable to identify high-risk patients can help tackle this burden. We investigated the association between 188 serum metabolites and kidney function in type 2 diabetes and then whether the associated metabolites impro...

A relevant percentage of IgAN patients experience a progressive decline in kidney function. According to the KDIGO guidelines, proteinuria and eGFR are the only validated prognostic markers. The role of interstitial macrophages in kidney biopsies of IgAN patients and the outcome of patients treated with renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (RASBs) a...

Chronic rejection (CR) is the main culprit for reduced survival and quality of life in patients undergoing lung transplantation (Ltx). High-throughput approaches have been used to unveil the molecular pathways of CR, mainly in the blood and/or in bronchoalveolar lavage. We hypothesized that a distinct molecular signature characterizes the biopsies...

Background: Recently, a tool based on two different artificial neural networks has been developed. The first network predicts kidney failure (KF) development while the second predicts the time frame to reach this outcome. In this study, we conducted a post-hoc analysis to evaluate the discordant results obtained by the tool. Methods: The tool pe...

Galactose (Gal)-deficient IgA1 (Gd-IgA1) is involved in IgA nephropathy (IgAN) pathogenesis. To reflect racial differences in clinical characteristics, we assessed disease- and race-specific heterogeneity in the O-glycosylation of the IgA1 hinge region (HR). We determined serum Gd-IgA1 levels in Caucasians (healthy controls [HCs], n = 31; IgAN pati...

Background and objective: Aim of nephrologists is to delay the outcome and reduce the number of patients undergoing renal failure (RF) by applying prevention protocols and accurately monitoring chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. General practitioners and nephrologists are involved in the first and in the late stages of the disease, respectivel...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Idiopathic Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common biopsy-proven glomerulonephritis in the world. Approximately 40% of IgAN patients reach renal failure (RF) 20 years after their kidney biopsy. The high prevalence of RF shows that IgAN has a significant economic impact in the countries because renal replacement th...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1093/ckj/sfab263.].

In this narrative review, we focus on the application of artificial intelligence in the clinical history of patients with glomerular disease, digital pathology in kidney biopsy, renal ultrasonography imaging, and prediction of chronic kidney disease (CKD). With the development of natural language processing, the clinical history of a patient can be...

Background Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted, stratifying IgAN patients based on the laboratory findings (serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and daily proteinuria). In contrast, data from the kidney biopsy has been used only for clinical diagnosis. Therefore, IgAN patients with active or chronic rena...

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) disrupts renal parenchyma through progressive expansion of fluid‐filled cysts. The only approved pharmacotherapy for ADKPD involves the blockade of the vasopressin type 2 receptor (V2R). V2R is a GPCR expressed by a subset of renal tubular cells and whose activation stimulates cyclic AMP (cAMP) a...

Kidney biopsy is the cornerstone for the diagnosis of immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). The immunofluorescence technique evidences the IgA deposits in the glomeruli; the routine histology shows degree of active and chronic renal lesions. The spectrum of renal lesions is highly variable, ranging from minor or no detectable lesions to diffuse prol...

Background During the last twenty years many tools, based on mathematical models, have been developed to predict ESKD at the time of kidney biopsy in patients with IgAN. The main limitation of these tools is the time frame to reach the ESKD. Recently, we have developed a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) (KI 2020) which includes 6 variables a...

Background/aims: Previous studies showed that two microRNAs, let-7b and miR-148, which regulate the O-glycosylation process of IgA1, may predict diagnosis of primary IgA nephropathy (IgAN). The combined analysis of their serum levels in calculated statistical models may act as serum biomarkers for the diagnosis of primary IgAN. In the present stud...

We have developed an artificial neural network prediction model for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in patients with primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) using a retrospective cohort of 948 patients with IgAN. Our tool is based on a two-step procedure of a classifier model that predicts ESKD, and a regression model that predicts development...

Primary IgA nephropathy (IgAN) diagnosis is based on IgA-dominant glomerular deposits and histological scoring is done on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue (FFPE) sections using the Oxford classification. Our aim was to use this underexploited resource to extract RNA and identify genes that characterize active (endocapillary-extracapillary pr...

The field of biomarker research in IgA nephropathy has experienced a major boost in recent years with the publication of a large number of scientific reports. Candidate biomarkers from blood, urine, and renal tissue obtained through the use of clinical chemistry, molecular biology, and omics have been proposed for translation in clinical practice....

IgA nephropathy (IgAN), or Berger's disease, is the most common primary glomerular disease worldwide, but varies largely in its geographic distribution. A systematic review of 1,619 publications from the five continental regions of the world was performed to assess the prevalence of IgAN in different worldwide regions and analyze factors responsibl...

Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common worldwide primary glomerulonephritis with a strong autoimmune component. The disease shows variability in both clinical phenotypes and endpoints and can be potentially subdivided into more homogeneous subtypes through the identification of specific molecular biomarkers. This review focuses on t...

Background: Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) due to C1-inhibitor deficiency is a lifelong illness characterized by recurrent acute attacks of localized skin or mucosal edema. An activation of the kallikrein/bradykinin pathway at endothelial cell level has a relevant pathogenetic role in acute HAE attacks. Moreover, other pathways are involved, given th...

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a public health problem worldwide. Several therapeutic strategies have been made to accelerate recovery and improve renal survival. Recent studies have shown that human adult renal progenitor cells (ARPCs) participate in kidney repair processes, and may be used as a possible treatment to promote regeneration in acute ki...

Background: The diagnosis of glomerular diseases is based on the evaluation of histological lesions in renal tissue by means of light and electronic microscopy, and immunofluorescence technique. Frozen and archival formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded kidney biopsies represent a stored resource for high-throughput technologies. Transcriptomics makes i...

The development of an efficient and accurate method for extra-virgin olive oils cultivar and origin authentication is complicated by the broad range of variables (e.g., multiplicity of varieties, pedo-climatic aspects, production and storage conditions) influencing their properties. In this study, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were applied on s...

To the Editor: In their report on the Supportive versus Immunosuppressive Therapy for the Treatment of Progressive IgA Nephropathy (STOP-IgAN) trial, Rauen et al. (Dec. 3 issue)(1) provide an important contribution to therapeutic management in IgA nephropathy. The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines suggest the initiation o...

End-stage kidney disease is a life-threatening condition that compels patients to accept either dialysis or transplant. Kidney transplantation is the best choice for patients with end-stage kidney disease because it ensures higher quality of life and longer survival rates than other choices, with less cost for the healthcare system. However, in ord...

Globally, IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis that can progress to renal failure. The exact pathogenesis of IgAN is not well defined, but current biochemical and genetic data implicate overproduction of aberrantly glycosylated IgA1. These aberrant immunoglobulins are characterized by galactose deficiency of some hin...

Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common form of primary glomerulonephritis worldwide and has a strong genetic component. In this setting, also the DNA methylation could be an important factor influencing this disease. We performed a genome-wide screening for DNA methylation in CD4(+) T cells from IgAN patients and found three regions...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in physiological and pathological condition in human organs including kidneys. Their dysregulation on one hand can induce the onset of a specific disease and on the other hand may represent potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and therapy. In this chapter, the miRNA functions and modulations are described...

There are errors in Figure 3, panels E, F, and G. These panels were reproduced from Figure 1 of Sallustio F, Serino G, Costantino V, Curci C, Cox SN, et al. (2013) miR-1915 and miR-1225-5p Regulate the Expression of CD133, PAX2 and TLR2 in Adult Renal Progenitor Cells. PLOS ONE 8(7): e68296. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068296 Additionally, the cytof...

Introduction and Aims: Different types of cells have been used for the development of potential bioartificial kidney devices. Recently, the reprogramming of adult cells to embryonic nephron progenitors (C.E.Hendry et al JASN 2013) and human embryonic stem cells differentiated to renal proximal tubular cells (K.Narayan et al KI 2013) have been used...

Numerous clinical trials are currently evaluating new strategies to halt the progression of renal damage in patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). Unfortunately, none of them have considered that the lack of response to new therapies may be due to the pharmacogenetics/pharmacogenomics profile of the patient. The recent impact of high-through...

We present a bio-inspired renal microdevice that resembles the in vivo structure of a kidney proximal tubule. For the first time, a population of tubular adult renal stem/progenitor cells (ARPCs) was embedded into a microsystem to create a bioengineered renal tubule. These cells have both multipotent differentiation abilities and an extraordinary c...

Mitochondria, essential eukaryotic cells organelles defined as the "powerhouse of the cell" because of their ability to produce the vast majority of energy necessary for cellular metabolism, may have a primary role in the oxidative stress-related intracellular machinery associated to chronic kidney disease (CKD). To better assess this research assu...

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Ultimate objective of nanoparticles-based therapy is to functionalize them in micro-disease environment without any side effects. Here, we revealed that our nitroxide radical-containing nanoparticles (TEMPONano) disintegrate within renal acidic area by ischemia and act as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to recove...

Italiano per lo studio della recidiva di nefrite a depositi IgA. Divisioni di Nefrologia di: 1 Ospedale Regina Margherita, Torino; 2 Ospedale S. Giovanni, Torino; 3 Ospedale Policlinico Mangiagalli Regina Elena, IRCCS, Milano; 4 Brescia; 5 Pavia; 6 Bari; 7 Firenze Introduzione. Non sono ad oggi ancora del tutto definiti i fattori che condizionano l...

Ministeriale per la recidiva della IgAN Introduzione. La nefropatia a depositi di IgA (IgAN) recidiva sul rene trapiantato nel 26%-58% dei casi, talora immediatamente dopo il trapianto, mediamente dopo 5 anni e raramente anche dopo un decennio. L'analisi a breve termine suggerisce una buona prognosi per l'organo trapiantato, ma proseguendo il follo...

Study Group Gli studi in fase due del nuovo immunomodulatore FTY 720 nel trapianto renale de novo hanno documentato la possibilità che FTY 720 potesse avere efficacia nella prevenzione del rigetto acuto in associazione a dosi ridotte di inibitori della calcineurina. Il presente studio di fase 3 è stato svolto con lo scopo di confrontare efficacia e...

The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as food and in food products is becoming more and more widespread. The European Union has implemented a set of very strict procedures for the approval to grow, import and/or utilize GMOs as food or food ingredients. Thus, analytical methods for the detection of GMOs are necessary in order to verify c...

An high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-UV method for the simultaneous determination of the free forms of mycophenolic acid (MPA) and its phenol glucuronide (MPAG) in human serum samples was developed for the first time. Chromatographic separation was performed on octadecylsilane based stationary phase in combination with a mobile phase of...

Renal replacement therapy (RRT) remains the most important tool for all patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the world. Patients are usually listed in the national renal registries which report demographic data, incidence, prevalence and outcome. Differences in acceptance of the RRT, patient demographics, socioeconomic burdens and nation...