Scientists Identify New Susceptibility Genes For Kidney Disease Igan

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah SINGAPORE, Dec 29 (Bernama) -- Singapore and China scientists have identified new susceptibility genes for the kidney disease Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy (IgAN). The advance online issue of "Nature Genetics" reported the discovery on Christmas Day and said it brings scientists closer to understanding the disease and working towards its cure. IgAN, a kidney disease characterised by the deposit of IgA in the mesangial area of glomeruli, is the most common cause of kidney failure among Asian populations, with 15 to 40 per cent of the patients ending up on dialysis or having to require kidney transplants. The prevalence of the disease among Asians is as high as 3.7 per cent. It is less common in Caucasian populations (up to 1.3 per cent) and very rare among individuals of African ancestry. The scientists were headed by Dr Liu Jianjun, senior group leader and associate director of Human Genetics at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), and Dr Yu Xueqing, a nephrologist at the 1st Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University. In order to identify susceptibility genes for IgAN, Dr Liu and Dr Yu and their collaborators carried out a large genome-wide association study of IgAN in the Chinese Han population. Commenting on the discovery, Dr Liu said: "The discovery of the new disease susceptibility loci is a major breakthrough of IgAN research. "These findings offer us opportunities to identify important biological pathways involved in IgAN development and further explore novel approaches to intervene and thus prevent affected patients from developing severe kidney damage." -- BERNAMA