Project description:Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a triad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure. The atypical form of HUS is a disease characterized by complement overactivation. Inherited defects in complement genes and acquired autoantibodies against complement regulatory proteins have been described. Incomplete penetrance of mutations in all predisposing genes is reported, suggesting that a precipitating event or trigger is required to unmask the complement regulatory deficiency. The underlying genetic defect predicts the prognosis both in native kidneys and after renal transplantation. The successful trials of the complement inhibitor eculizumab in the treatment of atypical HUS will revolutionize disease management.
Project description:Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) treatment consists of eculizumab. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 causes severe pneumonia and endothelial injury that leads to a prothrombotic state that may be complicated by macrovascular and microvascular thrombosis. Complement activation is thought to contribute to endothelial injury and there are at least seven ongoing clinical trials testing six different anti-complement strategies for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including eculizumab. We herein report on a kidney transplant patient with aHUS on chronic eculizumab therapy that developed severe COVID-19 despite eculizumab administration early in the course of the disease. Although eculizumab was unable to prevent the development of severe endothelial cell injury, as assessed by increasing D-dimer levels from 292 to 10?586?ng/mL, the patient eventually recovered following dexamethasone and convalescent plasma administration.
Project description:Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a disease characterized by the triad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia and acute kidney injury. The histopathologic lesions of aHUS include thrombotic microangiopathy involving the glomerular capillaries and thrombosis involving arterioles or interlobar arteries. Extra-renal manifestations occur in up to 20% of patients. The majority of aHUS is caused by complement system defects impairing ordinary regulatory mechanisms. Activating events therefore lead to unbridled, ongoing complement activity producing widespread endothelial injury. Pathologic mutations include those resulting in loss-of-function in a complement regulatory gene (CFH, CFI, CD46 or THBD) or gain-of-function in an effector gene (CFB or C3). Treatment with the late complement inhibitor, eculizumab - a monoclonal antibody directed against C5 - is effective.
Project description:Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a disorder characterized by thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic hemolytic anemia due to endothelial injury. aHUS is felt to be caused by defective complement regulation due to underlying genetic mutations in complement regulators or activators, most often of the alternative pathway. Mutations causing aHUS can be subdivided into two groups, loss of function mutations (affecting factor H, factor H-related proteins, membrane co-factor protein, and factor I), and gain of function mutations (affecting factor B and C3). As more information becomes available on the relationship between specific mutations and clinical outcome, complete genetic workup of aHUS patients becomes more and more important. In this review, we will discuss the genetic background of aHUS, the role of complement for aHUS pathogenesis, and the different groups of specific mutations known to be involved in the pathogenesis of aHUS.
Project description:The hemolytic-uremic syndrome consists of the triad of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and renal failure. The common form of the syndrome is triggered by infection with Shiga toxin-producing bacteria and has a favorable outcome. The less common form of the syndrome, called atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome, accounts for about 10% of cases, and patients with this form of the syndrome have a poor prognosis. Approximately half of the patients with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome have mutations in genes that regulate the complement system. Genetic factors in the remaining cases are unknown. We studied the role of thrombomodulin, an endothelial glycoprotein with anticoagulant, antiinflammatory, and cytoprotective properties, in atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome.We sequenced the entire thrombomodulin gene (THBD) in 152 patients with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome and in 380 controls. Using purified proteins and cell-expression systems, we investigated whether thrombomodulin regulates the complement system, and we characterized the mechanisms. We evaluated the effects of thrombomodulin missense mutations associated with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome on complement activation by expressing thrombomodulin variants in cultured cells.Of 152 patients with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome, 7 unrelated patients had six different heterozygous missense THBD mutations. In vitro, thrombomodulin binds to C3b and factor H (CFH) and negatively regulates complement by accelerating factor I-mediated inactivation of C3b in the presence of cofactors, CFH or C4b binding protein. By promoting activation of the plasma procarboxypeptidase B, thrombomodulin also accelerates the inactivation of anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a. Cultured cells expressing thrombomodulin variants associated with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome had diminished capacity to inactivate C3b and to activate procarboxypeptidase B and were thus less protected from activated complement.Mutations that impair the function of thrombomodulin occur in about 5% of patients with atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome.
Project description:Complement dysregulation leads to atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), while ADAMTS13 deficiency causes thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. We investigated whether genetic variations in the ADAMTS13 gene partially explain the reduced activity known to occur in some patients with aHUS. We measured complement activity and ADAMTS13 function, and completed mutation screening of multiple complement genes and ADAMTS13 in a large cohort of aHUS patients. In over 50% of patients we identified complement gene mutations. Surprisingly, 80% of patients also carried at least 1 nonsynonymous change in ADAMTS13, and in 38% of patients, multiple ADAMTS13 variations were found. Six of the 9 amino acid substitutions in ADAMTS13 were common single nucleotide polymorphisms; however, 3 variants-A747V, V832M, and R1096H- were rare, with minor allele frequencies of 0.0094%, 0.5%, and 0.32%, respectively. Reduced complement and ADAMTS13 activity (<60% of normal activity) were found in over 60% and 50% of patients, respectively. We concluded that partial ADAMTS13 deficiency is a common finding in aHUS patients and that genetic screening and functional tests of ADAMTS13 should be considered in these patients.
Project description:Pathologic thrombosis is a major cause of mortality. Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) features episodes of small-vessel thrombosis resulting in microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia and renal failure. Atypical HUS (aHUS) can result from genetic or autoimmune factors that lead to pathologic complement cascade activation. Using exome sequencing, we identified recessive mutations in DGKE (encoding diacylglycerol kinase ?) that co-segregated with aHUS in nine unrelated kindreds, defining a distinctive Mendelian disease. Affected individuals present with aHUS before age 1 year, have persistent hypertension, hematuria and proteinuria (sometimes in the nephrotic range), and develop chronic kidney disease with age. DGKE is found in endothelium, platelets and podocytes. Arachidonic acid-containing diacylglycerols (DAG) activate protein kinase C (PKC), which promotes thrombosis, and DGKE normally inactivates DAG signaling. We infer that loss of DGKE function results in a prothrombotic state. These findings identify a new mechanism of pathologic thrombosis and kidney failure and have immediate implications for treating individuals with aHUS.
Project description:The biology of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome has been shown to involve inability to limit activation of the alternative complement pathway, with subsequent damage to systemic endothelial beds and the vasculature, resulting in the prototypic findings of a thrombotic microangiopathy. Central to this process is the formation of the terminal membrane attack complex C5b-9. Recently, application of a monoclonal antibody that specifically binds to C5, eculizumab, became available to treat patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, replacing plasma exchange or infusion as primary therapy. This review focuses on the evidence, based on published clinical trials, case series, and case reports, on the efficacy and safety of this approach.
Project description:BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome is characterized by vascular endothelial damage caused by complement dysregulation. Consistently, complement inhibition therapies are highly effective in most patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. Recently, it was shown that a significant percentage of patients with early-onset atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome carry mutations in diacylglycerol kinase-?, an intracellular protein with no obvious role in complement. These data support an alternative, complement-independent mechanism leading to thrombotic microangiopathy that has implications for treatment of early-onset atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. To get additional insights into this new form of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, the diacylglycerol kinase-? gene in a cohort with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome was analyzed. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Eighty-three patients with early-onset atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (<2 years) enrolled in the Spanish atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome registry between 1999 and 2013 were screened for mutations in diacylglycerol kinase-?. These patients were also fully characterized for mutations in the genes encoding factor H, membrane cofactor protein, factor I, C3, factor B, and thrombomodulin CFHRs copy number variations and rearrangements, and antifactor H antibodies. RESULTS: Four patients carried mutations in diacylglycerol kinase-?, one p.H536Qfs*16 homozygote and three compound heterozygotes (p.W322*/p.P498R, two patients; p.Q248H/p.G484Gfs*10, one patient). Three patients also carried heterozygous mutations in thrombomodulin or C3. Extensive plasma infusions controlled atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome recurrences and prevented renal failure in the two patients with diacylglycerol kinase-? and thrombomodulin mutations. A positive response to plasma infusions and complement inhibition treatment was also observed in the patient with concurrent diacylglycerol kinase-? and C3 mutations. CONCLUSIONS: Data suggest that complement dysregulation influences the onset and disease severity in carriers of diacylglycerol kinase-? mutations and that treatments on the basis of plasma infusions and complement inhibition are potentially useful in patients with combined diacylglycerol kinase-? and complement mutations. A comprehensive understanding of the genetic component predisposing to atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome is, therefore, critical to guide an effective treatment.
Project description:With the introduction of the complement C5-inhibitor eculizumab, a new era was entered for patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). Eculizumab therapy very effectively reversed thrombotic microangiopathy and reduced mortality and morbidity. Initial guidelines suggested lifelong treatment and recommended prophylactic use of eculizumab in aHUS patients receiving a kidney transplant. However, there is little evidence to support lifelong therapy or prophylactic treatment in kidney transplant recipients. Worldwide, there is an ongoing debate regarding the optimal dose and duration of treatment, particularly in view of the high costs and potential side effects of eculizumab. An increasing but still limited number of case reports and small cohort studies suggest that a restrictive treatment regimen is feasible. We review the current literature and focus on the safety and efficacy of restrictive use of eculizumab. Our current treatment protocol is based on restrictive use of eculizumab. Prospective monitoring will provide more definite proof of the feasibility of such restrictive treatment.