Publications by authors named "Carrie Phillips"

The organizational principles of nephronal segments are based on longstanding anatomical and physiological attributes that are closely linked to the homeostatic functions of the kidney. Novel molecular approaches have recently uncovered layers of deeper signatures and states in tubular cells that arise at various timepoints on the spectrum between health and disease. For example, a dedifferentiated state of proximal tubular cells with mesenchymal stemness markers is frequently seen after injury.

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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an important contributor to the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). There is a need to understand molecular mediators that drive recovery and progression to CKD. In particular, the regulatory role of miRNAs in AKI is poorly understood.

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There is a need to define regions of gene activation or repression that control human kidney cells in states of health, injury, and repair to understand the molecular pathogenesis of kidney disease and design therapeutic strategies. Comprehensive integration of gene expression with epigenetic features that define regulatory elements remains a significant challenge. We measure dual single nucleus RNA expression and chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation, and H3K27ac, H3K4me1, H3K4me3, and H3K27me3 histone modifications to decipher the chromatin landscape and gene regulation of the kidney in reference and adaptive injury states.

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Article Synopsis
  • Primary membranous nephropathy (PMN) is rare in children, with limited existing data on its clinical course and histopathologic characteristics.
  • In a study of 21 children with PMN from three U.S. centers, researchers identified novel antigens in biopsy specimens and correlated these findings with clinical outcomes.
  • Results showed a good prognosis for most children, with about 60% testing positive for novel antigens like PLA2R and EXT1, which were linked to higher remission rates.
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The Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP) aims to create a kidney tissue atlas, define disease subgroups, and identify critical cells, pathways, and targets for novel therapies through molecular investigation of human kidney biopsies obtained from participants with AKI or CKD. We present the case of a 66-year-old woman with diabetic kidney disease who underwent a protocol KPMP kidney biopsy. Her clinical history included diabetes mellitus complicated by neuropathy and eye disease, increased insulin resistance, hypertension, albuminuria, and relatively preserved glomerular filtration rate (early CKD stage 3a).

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There is a need to define regions of gene activation or repression that control human kidney cells in states of health, injury, and repair to understand the molecular pathogenesis of kidney disease and design therapeutic strategies. However, comprehensive integration of gene expression with epigenetic features that define regulatory elements remains a significant challenge. We measured dual single nucleus RNA expression and chromatin accessibility, DNA methylation, and H3K27ac, H3K4me1, H3K4me3, and H3K27me3 histone modifications to decipher the chromatin landscape and gene regulation of the kidney in reference and adaptive injury states.

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Key Points: Proximal tubule endocytosis of toxins often leads to nephrotoxicity. Inhibition of endocytosis with receptor-associated protein may serve as a clinical approach to reduce or eliminate kidney damage from a potential nephrotoxin.

Background: Proximal tubules (PTs) are exposed to many exogenous and endogenous nephrotoxins that pass through the glomerular filter.

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Biopsies of the liver, lung, and kidney are performed for many indications, including organ dysfunction, mass lesions, and allograft monitoring. The diagnosis depends on the sample, which may or may not be representative of the lesion or pathology in question. Further, biopsies are not without risk of complications.

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We have sequenced the chloroplast genome of red spruce () for the first time using the single-end, short-reads (44 bp) Illumina sequences, assembled and functionally annotated it, and identified simple sequence repeats (SSRs). The contigs were assembled using SOAPdenovo2 following the retrieval of chloroplast genome sequences using the black spruce () chloroplast genome as the reference. The assembled genome length was 122,115 bp (gaps included).

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Background: The antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates of to agents used for chemoprophylaxis and to penicillin G was determined.

Methods: Fifty strains detected in Nova Scotia between 2004 and 2018 were included. The isolates were originally isolated from sites that might prompt chemoprophylaxis (27 blood, 18 cerebrospinal fluid [CSF], 3 CSF-blood, and 2 conjunctiva).

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Background: Anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis is a term used to describe systemic vasculitides that affect small and medium-sized blood vessels. Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA), a type of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), is rare in children with an estimated prevalence of 3-4 per million, and even more rare is the manifestation of cardiac abnormalities secondary to ANCA-associated vasculitis in the pediatric population.

Case Presentation: We discuss the cases of two teenage males who presented with cardiac valvular lesions secondary to GPA in addition to sinus, pulmonary, renal, and cutaneous involvement.

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Introduction: Calcification on native kidney biopsy specimens is often noted by pathologists, but the consequence is unknown.

Methods: We searched the pathology reports in the Biopsy Biobank Cohort of Indiana for native biopsy specimens with calcification.

Results: Of the 4,364 specimens, 416 (9.

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Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) remains the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease despite decades of study. Alterations in the glomerulus and kidney tubules both contribute to the pathogenesis of DKD although the majority of investigative efforts have focused on the glomerulus. We sought to examine the differential expression signature of human DKD in the glomerulus and proximal tubule and corroborate our findings in the db/db mouse model of diabetes.

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Label-free fluorescence imaging of kidney sections can provide important morphological information, but its utility has not been tested in a histology processing workflow. We tested the feasibility of label-free imaging of paraffin-embedded sections without deparaffinization and its potential usefulness in generating actionable data. Kidney tissue specimens were obtained during percutaneous nephrolithotomy or via diagnostic needle biopsy.

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The gene expression signature of the human kidney interstitium is incompletely understood. The cortical interstitium (excluding tubules, glomeruli, and vessels) in reference nephrectomies ( = 9) and diabetic kidney biopsy specimens ( = 6) was laser microdissected (LMD) and sequenced. Samples underwent RNA sequencing.

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We present a rare case of crystalglobulinemia causing cutaneous vasculopathy and acute nephropathy in a 66-year-old female kidney transplant recipient. The patient presented with acute kidney injury (AKI), volume overload, anuria, retiform purpura, and blue-black necrosis of her toes. She received a living kidney transplant 7 months earlier with baseline creatinine of 0.

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We identified an unusual pattern of renal tubular proliferation associated with chronic renal disease, found in 23 patients, diffusely (n=12), or focally (n=11). Incidence was 5% of end-stage renal disease kidneys from one institution (8/177) and 7/23 patients with acquired cystic kidney disease-associated renal cell carcinoma from another. Most (19 patients) had 1 or more neoplasms including papillary (n=9), acquired cystic kidney disease (n=8), clear cell (n=4), or clear cell papillary (n=3) renal cell carcinoma.

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Background: Idiopathic nodular mesangial sclerosis, also called idiopathic nodular glomerulosclerosis (ING), is a rare clinical entity with an unclear pathogenesis. The hallmark of this disease is the presence of nodular mesangial sclerosis on histology without clinical evidence of diabetes mellitus or other predisposing diagnoses. To achieve insights into its pathogenesis, we queried the clinical, histopathologic and transcriptomic features of ING and nodular diabetic nephropathy (DN).

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The advent of personalized medicine has driven the development of novel approaches for obtaining detailed cellular and molecular information from clinical tissue samples. Tissue cytometry is a promising new technique that can be used to enumerate and characterize each cell in a tissue and, unlike flow cytometry and other single-cell techniques, does so in the context of the intact tissue, preserving spatial information that is frequently crucial to understanding a cell's physiology, function, and behavior. However, the wide-scale adoption of tissue cytometry as a research tool has been limited by the fact that published examples utilize specialized techniques that are beyond the capabilities of most laboratories.

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Actin-associated nonmuscle myosin II (NM2) motor proteins play critical roles in a myriad of cellular functions, including endocytosis and organelle transport pathways. Cell type-specific expression and unique subcellular localization of the NM2 proteins, encoded by the Myh9 and Myh10 genes, in the mouse kidney tubules led us to hypothesize that these proteins have specialized functional roles within the renal epithelium. Inducible conditional knockout (cKO) of Myh9 and Myh10 in the renal tubules of adult mice resulted in progressive kidney disease.

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Patient safety events occur in health care, and root cause analysis (RCA) meetings held after these incidents often reveal valuable insights into systemic barriers between optimal processes or stated policies and actual practice, providing critical opportunities for improvement. The patient safety team that facilitates RCA meetings in the radiology department at the authors' institution received feedback suggesting dissatisfaction with the RCA process. The team followed a structured process improvement framework to analyze the root causes of this dissatisfaction and create a better system.

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Gene expression analysis of human kidney tissue is an important tool to understand homeostasis and disease pathophysiology. Increasing the resolution and depth of this technology and extending it to the level of cells within the tissue is needed. Although the use of single nuclear and single cell RNA sequencing has become widespread, the expression signatures of cells obtained from tissue dissociation do not maintain spatial context.

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Rationale & Objective: The use of kidney histopathology for predicting kidney failure is not established. We hypothesized that the use of histopathologic features of kidney biopsy specimens would improve prediction of clinical outcomes made using demographic and clinical variables alone.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study and development of a clinical prediction model.

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Objectives: Partner notification services for reportable sexually transmitted infections vary based on jurisdiction, resources, type of infection, and whether an outbreak has been reported. The objective of this study was to determine whether case finding increased after implementation of enhanced notification and follow-up activities for contacts of cases of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Central Zone, the largest health authority in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Methods: Enhanced contact tracing by public health professionals was implemented in May 2015.

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