Publications by authors named "Alena Vrbacka"

Article Synopsis
  • MUC1 and UMOD pathogenic variants are linked to autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease (ADTKD), with MUC1 associated with a significant reduction in mucin-1 production.
  • A survey conducted among ADTKD patients revealed that those with ADTKD-MUC1 had a higher rate of previous COVID-19 infections and COVID-related deaths compared to ADTKD-UMOD individuals.
  • The study concluded that individuals with ADTKD-MUC1 are eight times more likely to die from COVID-19, suggesting that lower mucin-1 levels may contribute to this increased risk.
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Article Synopsis
  • Identified a new variant (p.R79W) in the ALG5 gene linked to late-onset ADPKD in two Irish families, highlighting its impact on kidney damage and fibrosis.
  • Employed whole exome and targeted sequencing along with immunohistochemistry to examine genetic segregation and protein abnormalities in kidney biopsies from affected individuals.
  • Found that ALG5 dysfunction disrupts the maturation and transport of uromodulin, leading to changes in kidney structure and function, thereby confirming ALG5's role in late-onset ADPKD.
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Background: and pathogenic variants cause autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease (ADTKD). is expressed in kidney, nasal mucosa and respiratory tract, while is expressed only in kidney. Due to haplo-insufficiency ADTKD- patients produce approximately 50% of normal mucin-1.

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Sporadic cases of apolipoprotein A-IV medullary amyloidosis have been reported. Here we describe five families found to have autosomal dominant medullary amyloidosis due to two different pathogenic APOA4 variants. A large family with autosomal dominant chronic kidney disease (CKD) and bland urinary sediment underwent whole genome sequencing with identification of a chr11:116692578 G>C (hg19) variant encoding the missense mutation p.

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Background And Aim: Gene defects contribute to the aetiology of intrahepatic cholestasis. We aimed to explore the outcome of whole-exome sequencing (WES) in a cohort of 51 patients with this diagnosis.

Patients And Methods: Both paediatric (n = 33) and adult (n = 18) patients with cholestatic liver disease of unknown aetiology were eligible.

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Introduction: Patients with ADTKD-MUC1 have one allele producing normal mucin-1 (MUC1) and one allele producing mutant MUC1, which remains intracellular. We hypothesized that ADTKD-MUC1 patients, who have only 1 secretory-competent wild-type MUC1 allele, should exhibit decreased plasma mucin-1 (MUC1) levels. To test this hypothesis, we repurposed the serum CA15-3 assay used to measure MUC1 in breast cancer to measure plasma MUC1 levels in ADTKD-MUC1.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers gathered clinical and genetic data from 722 individuals across 249 families, noting that men had a significantly higher risk of progressing to ESKD at a median age of 47 years.
  • * The study revealed a lower frequency of the rs4293393 allele than expected, making it impossible to conduct a Mendelian randomization, but identified a new score that could effectively predict the age of ESKD based on uromod
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Neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder categorized into 3 phenotypic variants: infantile, juvenile, and adult. Four recent reports have linked NIID to CGG expansions in the NOTCH2NLC gene in adult NIID (aNIID) and several juvenile patients. Infantile NIID (iNIID) is an extremely rare neuropediatric condition.

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Background: Autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease caused by mucin-1 gene () mutations (ADTKD-) is characterized by progressive kidney failure. Genetic evaluation for ADTKD- specifically tests for a cytosine duplication that creates a unique frameshift protein (MUC1fs). Our goal was to develop immunohistochemical methods to detect the MUC1fs created by the cytosine duplication and, possibly, by other similar frameshift mutations and to identify novel mutations in individuals with positive immunohistochemical staining for the MUC1fs protein.

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