Nephrology research update from Julien Marro, February 2022

I started medical school in September 2018 at the University of Liverpool. After a short research project in third year that I thoroughly enjoyed, I decided to take a year out of medicine to undertake a research-based degree at Alder Hey Hospital. This was a unique opportunity to gain research skills and explore an area I had an interest in.

My project focuses on IgA Vasculitis (which used to be called Henoch Schonlein Purpura or HSP). This is a disease where the blood vessels become inflamed which usually causes a rash, sore joints, tummy pains and sometimes the kidneys also get inflamed. Most of the time the disease resolves by itself, but the main long-term problem is caused by the inflamed kidneys and some patients will progress onto chronic kidney disease. Currently, there is no way of knowing which children are at higher risk of developing the kidney problems. The aim of my project is to study compounds called proteins in the urine of children with IgA Vasculitis to try to better understand how this disease works and to find clues that might help identifying which patients will have the kidney problems. 

Sometimes, some symptoms of the disease tend to persist and come back. It can be really tricky for doctors to know whether this is due the vasculitis disease and currently no one really agrees on how to best diagnose and treat those children. Another area I will be exploring is looking at all the children with recurrent or persisting IgA Vasculitis at Alder Hey to try to understand this group a little bit better.

Since September, I have been working as part of the EATC4C (Experimental Arthritis Treatment Centre 4 Children) research group. My usual week is split between recruiting patients to the IgA Vasculitis Study, undertaking laboratory experiments as well as taking part in weekly meetings where we all share progress on our work and discuss new and exciting research topics. 

So far, we have already found some promising proteins and I had the opportunity to present this work at the British Association of Paediatric Nephrology Winter Meeting where I was awarded 3rd best oral presentation!

IgA Vasculitis can have a huge impact on both children and their families, especially with the kidney problems or if the disease keeps coming back. This is why research in this area as well as the IgA Vasculitis Study are so important. I am extremely grateful to FAIR for funding this research and contributing towards our vision of “no children with IgAV should ever get chronic kidney disease”.