Volume 15 Issue 9, September 2019

To advance kidney discovery, our community is driven to maximize the utility of genomic data that we all generate. We can best accomplish this through excellence in appropriately incorporating publicly available genomic data into our research efforts and by enthusiastically embracing widespread data sharing in a manner that facilitates its broad use.

Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have been recommended for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, heart failure or chronic kidney disease. Findings from recent efficacy and safety trials of empagliflozin in kidney transplant recipients with post-transplantation diabetes are timely, given the elevated cardiovascular risk associated with solid organ transplantation.

The clinical relevance of minor histocompatibility antigens in transplantation is disputed. High-throughput approaches are now being used to investigate the role of genome-wide genetic incompatibility in transplant outcomes. A recent study reports that donor and recipient mismatch at the LIMS1 locus is associated with an increased risk of acute rejection.

The microbiome is increasingly recognized as an element that contributes to health and disease. Here, the authors take an ecological approach to describe the impact of factors related to chronic kidney disease on the fitness of different physiological systems and the effects of these changes on microbiota composition.

Sodium has a crucial role in osmoregulation and fluid balance. In this Review, the authors discuss how sodium is also an important functional modulator of innate and adaptive immune cells and how it might be linked to chronic inflammatory conditions.

Various cell types release extracellular DNA traps that protect the host against microbial infections. In this Review, the authors discuss how DNA traps not only participate in pathogen clearance but can also promote vascular disease and autoimmunity.

This Evidence-Based Guideline developed by members of the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology CKD-MBD, Dialysis and Transplantation working groups presents clinical practice recommendations for the use of growth hormone in children with chronic kidney disease on dialysis and after renal transplantation.