tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4230162007222918868.post1155425371279001462..comments2023-09-19T05:50:03.130-04:00Comments on Renal Fellow Network: Top nephrology-related stories of 2011Gearoid McMahonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08049723797363526138noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4230162007222918868.post-52049494510204580802017-01-05T08:10:38.751-05:002017-01-05T08:10:38.751-05:00thanksthanksAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04571828795230778384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4230162007222918868.post-8366712253538640042012-02-18T17:54:16.387-05:002012-02-18T17:54:16.387-05:00Regarding your top rated story on suPAR, I am afra...Regarding your top rated story on suPAR, I am afraid any serious student of immunology would have to vehemently disagree: this study is so highly flawed, it is surprising it was even published!<br /><br />A review of the literature clearly shows that suPAR is elevated in various inflammatory conditions, it therefore seems so unlikely to be specifically responsible for recurrent FSGS. The most likely explanation is that suPAR is simply correlating with kidney disease, and therefore has no predictive value for FSGS per se. The study by Wei et al. confirms this actually, because the levels of suPAR do not correlate with the degree of proteinuria!<br /><br />The mouse models used in this study, especially the suPAR injected mice, are fundamentally flawed experiments: Most importantly, the suPAR used for injection in mice is fused to a human Fc receptor, which means that a foreign antigen was injected into these mice! Surely, the immune response generated by this exposure to an allo-antigen would be enough to generate proteinuria, but this is not a model for FSGS, but rather, a model of serum sickness in a mouse exposed to a human antigen!<br /><br />Similarly, there are many other experimental flaws in this study, including the fact that beta 3 integrin is specifically activated as a downstream target of suPAR. <br /><br />The list of comments could go on, but the fundamental conclusion remains: this study is seriously flawed, and from an immunologist's standpoint, incredibly misguided. In time, the above mentioned flaws will most certainly be revealed, as I doubt anyone will be able to replicate these data, but I feel sorry for the many patients and their families, who may have been given false hope... What a shame...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com