European Consortium for High-Throughput Research in Rare Kidney Diseases

EURenOmics will integrate several established consortia devoted to rare kidney diseases with eminent need and potential for diagnostic and therapeutic progress (i.e. steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome, membranous nephropathy, tubulopathies, complement disorders such a haemolytic uraemic syndrome, and congenital kidney malformations). The Consortium has access to the largest clinical cohorts assembled to date (collectively >10,000 patients) with detailed phenotypic information and comprehensive biorepositories containing DNA, blood, urine, amniotic fluid and kidney tissue. The project aims to (1) identify the genetic and epigenetic causes and modifiers of disease and their molecular pathways; (2) define a novel mechanistic disease ontology beyond phenotypical or morphological description; (3) develop innovative technologies allowing rapid diagnostic testing; (4) discover and validate biomarkers of disease activity, prognosis and treatment responses; and (5) develop in vitro and in vivo disease models and apply high-throughput compound library screening. For these purposes we will integrate comprehensive data sets from next generation exome and whole-genome sequencing, ChiP-sequencing, tissue transcriptome and antigen/epitope profiling, and miRNome, proteome/peptidome, and metabolome screening in different body fluids within and across conventional diagnostic categories. These data will be combined in a systems biology approach with high-resolution clinical phenotyping and findings obtained with a large array of established and novel in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo disease models (functiomics) to identify disease-associated genetic variants involved in monogenic or complex genetic transmission, disease-defining molecular signatures, and potential targets for therapeutic intervention. These efforts will converge in the development of innovative diagnostic tools and biomarkers and efficient screening strategies for novel therapeutic agents.