Infection, Inflammation and Immunity

Our work

• Design and participation in clinical trials: of glomerular diseases and progressive CKD in children and adults
• Investigating pathogenic mechanisms of autoimmune kidney disease and chronic kidney disease
• Understanding antibody responses after vaccination
• The interaction with influenza and autophagy.

Current projects

1. Establishment of LifeArc-KRUK Centre for Rare Kidney Diseases
2. Investigating mechanisms of and biomarkers for IgA vasculitis
3. National harmonisation of management of glomerulonephritis in children
4. International study of kidney outcomes of Takayasu arteritis in children
5. National clinical practice guidelines (British Society for Rheumatology management recommendations for ANCA-associated vasculitis and lupus nephritis in children and adults)
6. International study of clinical outcomes in children with anti-GBM disease and clinical trials of novel therapy in anti-GBM disease
7. Role of complement pro-inflammatory factors and regulatory proteins in paediatric lupus nephritis
8. Transition and long term outcomes of children and young people with various glomerular diseases including lupus nephritis, minimal change and FSGS
9. Clinical trials in glomerular diseases (including systemic lupus erythematosus, lupus nephritis, C3 glomerulopathies and vasculitis) eg. long term voclosporin treatment in adolescents with lupus nephritis, sparsentan in paediatric proteinuric glomerular diseases, iptacopan in primary C3 glomerulopathy and immune complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis.
10. Improving accuracy of identifying remission in adult patients with ANCA-associated Vasculitis and Lupus Nephritis using longitudinal profiling of novel biomarkers
11. The use of home microsampling for renal patients
12. Developing in vitro models of podocyte injury to understand management of nephrotic syndrome (this would include Alice and Will and Ruth)
13. Participation in several national and internation trials:
    1. TURING trial: (PI) investigating the use of rituximab in minimal change nephropathy and FSGS
    2. APOL1 high risk variants: industry trial investigating high risk variants and Phase 2/3 trial with a small molecule inhibitor of high-risk variants in CKD and FSGS
    3. Phase 1 study (UCLH) investigating the safety of CAR-T treatment in SLE.
14. Testing the impact of glomerular disease and its therapies on cardiovascular outcomes
15. Investigating the mechanisms of poor vaccine responsiveness in ESKD patients
16. Testing vaccine strategies in preventing recurrent UTIs in kidney transplant patients.

Our experts

Select Publications

1. Davies E, A Nagen, Austin P, Wong C, Devonald M, Lip G. Y. H., Oni L, McDowell G, Rao A. Outcomes associated with Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors in kidney transplant recipients: A real-world analysis using a global federated database. Nature Comms.
2. Oni L, Platt C, Marlais M, et al. National recommendations for the management of children and young people with IgA vasculitis: a best available evidence, group agreement-based approach. Archives of Disease in Childhood. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2024-327364
3. Barnini C, Oni L, Kronbichler A. Course of paediatric ANCA-associated glomerulonephritis: advocating for an age-inclusive approach. RMC open, 2024: 10 (3) e004481. 
4. K Rohner, M Marlais, YH Ahn, et al. Outcome of immunosuppression in 1148 children with IgA vasculitis-related nephritis. Nephrology, Dialysis & Transplantation, 2024, 39(8): 1299-1309.
5. K Rohner, M Marlais, A Ali, et al. Rituximab treatment in children with IgA vasculitis nephritis: a case series of an international cohort. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2024, 109(11): 958-960.
6. M Marlais, T Wlodkowski, N Printza, et al. Clinical Factors and Adverse Kidney Outcomes in Children With ANCA-Associated Glomerulonephritis. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 2023: 81: 119-122.
7. Renson T, Lightstone L, Ciurtin C, Marks SD. The unique challenges of childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis patients: proposed framework for an individualized transitional care plan. Pediatr Nephrol 2024.
8. Platt C, Longthorpe C, Sit J, Marks SD, Harmer M, Ciurtin C, Ramanan AV, Beresford MW on behalf of the UK JSLE Study Group. Pulmonary hypertension in juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: a case series. Clin Exp Rheumatol 2023; 41(9): 1934-1939.
9. Md Yusof MY, Smith EMD, Ainsworth S, Armon K, Beresford MW, Brown M, Cherry L, Edwards CJ, Flora K, Gilman R, Griffiths B, Gordon C, Howard P, Isenberg D, Jordan N, Kaul A, Lanyon P, Laws PM, Lightstone L, Lythgoe H, Mallen CD, Marks SD, Maxwell N, Moraitis E, Nash C, Pepper RJ, Pilkington C, Psarras A, Rostron H, Skeates J, Skeoch S, Tremarias D, Wincup C, Zoma A, Vital EM.  “Management and treatment of children, young people and adults with systemic lupus erythematosus: British Society for Rheumatology guideline scope.”  Rheumatol Adv Pract 2023; 7(3): rkad093.
10. Long-Term Outcomes of Rituximab-Treated Adult Patients with Podocytopathies. Gauckler P, Matyjek A, Kapsia S, Marinaki S, Quintana LF, Diaz MM, King C, Griffin S, Ramachandran R, Odler B, Eller K, Artan AS, Mirioglu S, Busch M, Schaepe M, Turkmen K, Cheung CK, Pepper RJ, Juarez GF, Pascual J, Auñón P, García-Carro C, Rodriguez A, Alberici F, Luzardo L, Chebotareva N, Schönermarck U, Fernández L, Radhakrishnan J, Guaman K, Peleg Y, Hoisnard L, Audard V, Papasotiriou M, Krnanska N, Tesar V, Hruskova Z, Bruchfeld A, Stangou M, Lioulios G, Faguer S, Ribes D, Salhi S, Windpessl M, Galešić K, Crnogorac M, Zagorec N, Mayer G, Kronbichler A; RITERM Study Team. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2024 Oct 16.
11. Risk of chronic kidney disease in 260 patients with lupus nephritis-analysis of a nationwide multicentre cohort with up to 35 years of follow-up. Farinha F, Barreira S, Couto M, Cunha M, Fonseca D, Freitas R, Inês L, Luís M, Macieira C, Prata AR, Rodrigues J, Santos B, Torres R, Pepper RJ, Rahman A, Santos MJ. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2024 Apr 2.
12. Disparity in peripheral and renal B-cell depletion with rituximab in systemic lupus erythematosus: an opportunity for obinutuzumab? Reddy VR, Pepper RJ, Shah K, Cambridge G, Henderson SR, Klein C, Kell L, Taylor SJ, Isenberg DA, Cragg MS, Leandro MJ. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2022 Jul 6;61(7): 2894-2904.
13. Riding AM, Loudon KW, Guo A et al, Group 3 innate lymphocytes make a distinct contribution to type 17 immunity in bladder defence. iScience. 2022.
14. Inaba A, Tuong KT, Riding AM et al. B lymphocyte-derived CCL7 augments neutrophil and monocyte recruitment, exacerbating acute kidney injury. J Immunol. 2020.
15. Stewart BS, Ferdinand JR, Young MD, Mitchell TJ, Loudon KW, Riding AM, et al. Spatio-temporal immune zonation of the human kidney. Science. 2019.
16. Anwari K, Collier S, Davenport A. Successful medical management of non-typhoid salmonella associated peritoneal dialysis peritonitis without subsequent relapse or recurrence: A case report and case review: J Clin Med Images Case Rep 2024;4: 1671.