Publications by authors named "Andreas Heilos"

Purpose: Repeated gadolinium-based contrast agent (GBCA)-enhanced MRIs are crucial in the diagnosis and follow-up of oncologic and chronic disorders in pediatric patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the frequency and severity of adverse reactions to GBCAs in children after a single vs. multiple GBCA-enhanced abdomen MRIs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Pediatric acute liver failure (PALF) is a rare and life-threatening condition. In up to 50% of PALF cases, the underlying etiology remains unknown during routine clinical testing. This lack of knowledge complicates clinical management and liver transplantation decisions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Exome sequencing (ES) has identified biallelic kinesin family member 12 (KIF12) mutations as underlying neonatal cholestatic liver disease. We collected information on onset and progression of this entity. Among consecutively referred pediatric patients at our centers, diagnostic ES identified 4 patients with novel, biallelic KIF12 variants using the human GRCh38 reference sequence, as KIF12 remains incompletely annotated in the older reference sequence GRCh37.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

(1) Background: Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) is a rare cause of liver failure. Surgical biliary diversion (SBD) and ileal bile salt inhibitors (IBAT) can delay or prevent liver transplantation (LTX). A comparison of the two methodologies in the literature is lacking.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • FHR-5 is a protein similar to Factor H, which regulates the immune system's alternative pathway, suggesting it may influence kidney diseases where this pathway is dysfunctional.
  • In a study of 120 patients with diagnosed IC-MPGN and C3G, FHR-5 serum levels were measured, and genetic variants were analyzed to understand their role in disease.
  • Results indicated that 12.6% of patients had genetic variations and that lower serum levels of FHR-5 correlated with better kidney survival and signs of excessive complement activity, suggesting FHR-5 may be important in the disease process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a leading cause of chronic kidney disease. We found recessive variants in two families with early-onset NS by exome sequencing. Overexpression of wild-type (WT) , but not cDNA constructs bearing patient variants, increased active CDC42 and promoted filopodia and podosome formation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic deterioration of kidney graft function is related to inadequate immunosuppression (IS). A novel tool to assess the individual net state of IS in transplanted patients might be the monitoring of Torque teno virus (TTV) viral load. TTV is a non-pathogen virus detectable in almost all individuals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A novel data-driven cluster analysis identified distinct pathogenic patterns in C3-glomerulopathies and immune complex-mediated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Our aim was to replicate these observations in an independent cohort and elucidate disease pathophysiology with detailed analysis of functional complement markers.

Methods: A total of 92 patients with clinical, histological, complement and genetic data were involved in the study, and hierarchical cluster analysis was done by Ward method, where four clusters were generated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Complement may contribute to donor-specific antibody (DSA)-triggered transplant injury. Here, we investigated whether the intrinsic strength of classical pathway and alternative pathway (AP) relates to the pathogenicity of DSA.

Methods: Classical pathway and AP high-activity genotypes were defined according to C4 gene copy number and the presence of functional polymorphisms in C3 (C3), factor B (fB), and factor H (fH) genes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Acquired or genetic abnormalities of the complement alternative pathway are the primary cause of C3glomerulopathy(C3G) but may occur in immune-complex-mediated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (IC-MPGN) as well. Less is known about the presence and role of C4nephritic factor(C4NeF) which may stabilize the classical pathway C3-convertase. Our aim was to examine the presence of C4NeF and its connection with clinical features and with other pathogenic factors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is a major cause of kidney allograft failure. Its molecular mechanisms are multifaceted and may include a role of complement activation via the classical pathway. Here, we investigated whether noninvasive complement monitoring adds predictive power to the diagnosis of AMR in the setting of donor-specific antibody (DSA) positivity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) represents one of the cardinal causes of late allograft loss after kidney transplantation, and there is great need for noninvasive tools improving early diagnosis of this rejection type. One promising strategy might be the quantification of peripheral blood DNA levels of the highly prevalent and apathogenic Torque Teno virus (TTV), which might mirror the overall level of immunosuppression and thus help determine the risk of alloimmune response.

Methods: To assess the association between TTV load in the peripheral blood and AMR, 715 kidney transplant recipients (median, 6.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF