Grant: Operating Grant: ECRs in Human Development, Child and Youth Health

Steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome is the most common kidney disease in children worldwide, with rates doubling over the last ten years in Canada. In nephrotic syndrome, the kidneys cannot filter properly and leak protein from the blood into the urine. This can lead to complications like infection, blood clots, severe kidney injury, and even death. For the last 70 years, we have treated nephrotic syndrome with medications commonly referred to as "steroids", which are non-specific in target and have severe side effects. Currently, we do not fully understand what causes nephrotic syndrome. We are also in need of more targeted non-toxic therapies to treat the disease. Our research will examine patients' genes to understand more about the disease. We will study the genetic information from 2300 children with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome of European, South Asian, and Arab ethnicities. The goals of our research are as follows: 1) To identify proteins that increase the risk of steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome in children. We will use the genetic information from children with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome to determine the protein levels in their blood. We will then compare these levels to the protein levels of healthy patients to identify circulating proteins that cause nephrotic syndrome. These proteins could then be used as new drug targets to treat the disease. 2) To identify new changes in genes that increase a child's risk of developing steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome. We will do this by comparing the genetic information from children with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome to healthy patients. This will help us understand why the disease develops in the first place. Our work will help us to further understand the cause of steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome and identify new drug targets to treat the disease. Ultimately, our work will contribute to more individualized and optimized treatment for children with nephrotic syndrome.