Grant: Project Grant

Purpose: Kidney disease affects 1 in 10 Canadians. 35,000 Canadians currently have kidney failure needing dialysis or a kidney transplant. A cause for kidney failure is unknown in 50% of patients. Kidney disease does not make people unwell until it is advanced. If properly identified, it may be possible to treat people earlier before their kidney disease has progressed. Diet and the environment contribute to kidney disease, but our genes play a large role. Each person has 30,000 genes, and loss of even one gene can cause kidney disease. Over 200 different types of kidney diseases caused by a single gene mutation have been discovered. However, each of these kidney diseases are rare, and together they account for a small proportion of patients with kidney failure. We will look for patients whose kidney disease is due to the total effect of many genes that are working poorly, instead of a single gene that is very abnormal. Procedure: Using the latest genetic testing available, we will test genetic risk factors in 3,700 patients with kidney disease. We will compare these results to more than 500,000 people from the general population. We will then focus on patients who are without a diagnosis to look for new types of kidney disease. Expected Outcome: We will find new combinations of genes that are working poorly that lead patients to develop kidney disease. Relevance to patients: Our research will improve our ability to tell patients what is causing their kidney disease. It will improve our ability to predict who is likely to get worse, even in early stages of kidney disease. We will be able to give better advice to kidney donors about their personal risk of kidney failure. We and others will use our findings to target new treatments for kidney disease.