Information on COVID-19, Kidney Disease, and Telemedicine.

Jon Blumenfeld, M.D.

Specialties:

  • Nephrology

Expertise:

  • Polycystic Kidney Disease

Board Certifications:

  • Internal Medicine
  • Nephrology

Clinical and Academic Appointments:

  • Director, Susan R. Knafel Polycystic Kidney Disease Center
  • Director, Hypertension, The Rogosin Institute
  • Maxwell Professor of Clinical Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
  • Attending Physician, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Education and Training:

  • Medical School: Yale University School of Medicine
  • Residency: NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Fellowship in Nephrology: Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Locations:

The Rogosin Institute
Susan R. Knafel Polycystic Kidney Disease Center
505 East 70th Street
New York, NY 10021
212-746-7647
Get Directions+

Research:

  • Genetic basis of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)
  • Pathogenesis of chronic kidney disease in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)
  • Treatment strategies for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)
  • Extrarenal manifestation of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)

Publications

  • Automatically Detecting Pancreatic Cysts in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease on MRI Using Deep Learning
    Sophie J Wang, Zhongxiu Hu, Collin Li, Xinzi He, Chenglin Zhu, Yin Wang, Usama Sattar, Vahid Bazojoo, Hui Yi Ng He, Jon D Blumenfeld, Martin R Prince...

    Tomography. 2024 Jul 16;10(7):1148-1158. doi: 10.3390/tomography10070087.

    ABSTRACT

    BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cysts in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) correlate with PKD2 mutations, which have a different phenotype than PKD1 mutations. However, pancreatic cysts are commonly overlooked by radiologists. Here, we automate the detection of pancreatic cysts on abdominal MRI in ADPKD.

    METHODS: Eight nnU-Net-based segmentation models with 2D or 3D configuration and various loss functions were trained on positive-only or positive-and-negative datasets, comprising axial and coronal T2-weighted MR images from 254 scans on 146 ADPKD patients with pancreatic cysts labeled independently by two radiologists. Model performance was evaluated on test subjects unseen in training, comprising 40 internal, 40 external, and 23 test-retest reproducibility ADPKD patients.

    RESULTS: Two radiologists agreed on 52% of cysts labeled on training data, and 33%/25% on internal/external test datasets. The 2D model with a loss of combined dice similarity coefficient and cross-entropy trained with the dataset with both positive and negative cases produced an optimal dice score of 0.7 ± 0.5/0.8 ± 0.4 at the voxel level on internal/external validation and was thus used as the best-performing model. In the test-retest, the optimal model showed superior reproducibility (83% agreement between scan A and B) in segmenting pancreatic cysts compared to six expert observers (77% agreement). In the internal/external validation, the optimal model showed high specificity of 94%/100% but limited sensitivity of 20%/24%.

    CONCLUSIONS: Labeling pancreatic cysts on T2 images of the abdomen in patients with ADPKD is challenging, deep learning can help the automated detection of pancreatic cysts, and further image quality improvement is warranted.

    PMID:39058059 | PMC:PMC11281294 | DOI:10.3390/tomography10070087

  • Prevalence of Spinal Meningeal Diverticula in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
    Usama Sattar, Xiaorui Yin, Xianfu Luo, Chenglin Zhu, Zhongxiu Hu, Jon D Blumenfeld, Hanna Rennert, Alan Wu, Arindam RoyChoudhury, Gayle Salama, Martin R Prince...

    AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2024 Nov 14. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8407. Online ahead of print.

    ABSTRACT

    BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) develop cysts in the kidneys, liver, spleen, pancreas, prostate, and arachnoid spaces. In addition, spinal meningeal diverticula have been reported. To determine whether spinal meningeal diverticula are associated with ADPKD, we compared their prevalence in subjects with ADPKD with a control cohort without ADPKD.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subjects with ADPKD and age- and sex-matched controls without ADPKD undergoing abdominal MRI from the midthorax to the pelvis from 2003 to 2023 were retrospectively evaluated for spinal meningeal diverticula by 4 blinded observers. The prevalence of spinal meningeal diverticula in ADPKD was compared with that in control subjects, using t tests and correlated with clinical and laboratory data and MR imaging features, including cyst volumes and cyst counts.

    RESULTS: Identification of spinal meningeal diverticula in ADPKD (n = 285, median age, 47; interquartile range [IQR], 37-56 years; 54% female) and control (n = 285, median age, 47; IQR, 37-57 years; 54% female) subjects had high interobserver agreement (pairwise Cohen κ = 0.74). Spinal meningeal diverticula were observed in 145 of 285 (51%) subjects with ADPKD compared with 66 of 285 (23%) control subjects without ADPKD (P < .001). Spinal meningeal diverticula in ADPKD were more prevalent in women (98 of 153 [64%]) than men (47 of 132 [36%], P < .001). The mean number of spinal meningeal diverticula per affected subject with ADPKD was 3.6 ± 2.9 compared with 2.4 ± 1.9 in controls with cysts (P < .001). The median volume (IQR, 25%-75%) of spinal meningeal diverticula was 400 (IQR, 210-740) mm3 in those with ADPKD compared with 250 (IQR, 180-440) mm3 in controls (P < .001). The mean spinal meningeal diverticulum diameter was greater in the sacrum (7.3 [SD, 4.1] mm) compared with thoracic (5.4 [SD, 1.8] mm) and lumbar spine (5.8 [SD, 2.0] mm), (P < .001), suggesting that hydrostatic pressure contributed to enlargement.

    CONCLUSIONS: ADPKD has a high prevalence of spinal meningeal diverticula, particularly in women.

    PMID:38991774 | DOI:10.3174/ajnr.A8407

  • Improved predictions of total kidney volume growth rate in ADPKD using two-parameter least squares fitting
    Zhongxiu Hu, Arman Sharbatdaran, Xinzi He, Chenglin Zhu, Jon D Blumenfeld, Hanna Rennert, Zhengmao Zhang, Andrew Ramnauth, Daniil Shimonov, James M Chevalier, Martin R Prince...

    Sci Rep. 2024 Jun 14;14(1):13794. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-62776-8.

    ABSTRACT

    Mayo Imaging Classification (MIC) for predicting future kidney growth in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients is calculated from a single MRI/CT scan assuming exponential kidney volume growth and height-adjusted total kidney volume at birth to be 150 mL/m. However, when multiple scans are available, how this information should be combined to improve prediction accuracy is unclear. Herein, we studied ADPKD subjects ( n = 36 ) with 8+ years imaging follow-up (mean = 11 years) to establish ground truth kidney growth trajectory. MIC annual kidney growth rate predictions were compared to ground truth as well as 1- and 2-parameter least squares fitting. The annualized mean absolute error in MIC for predicting total kidney volume growth rate was 2.1 % ± 2 % compared to 1.1 % ± 1 % ( p = 0.002 ) for a 2-parameter fit to the same exponential growth curve used for MIC when 4 measurements were available or 1.4 % ± 1 % ( p = 0.01 ) with 3 measurements averaging together with MIC. On univariate analysis, male sex ( p = 0.05 ) and PKD2 mutation ( p = 0.04 ) were associated with poorer MIC performance. In ADPKD patients with 3 or more CT/MRI scans, 2-parameter least squares fitting predicted kidney volume growth rate better than MIC, especially in males and with PKD2 mutations where MIC was less accurate.

    PMID:38877066 | PMC:PMC11178802 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-62776-8

  • A Primer for Utilizing Deep Learning and Abdominal MRI Imaging Features to Monitor Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease Progression
    Chenglin Zhu, Xinzi He, Jon D Blumenfeld, Zhongxiu Hu, Hreedi Dev, Usama Sattar, Vahid Bazojoo, Arman Sharbatdaran, Mohit Aspal, Dominick Romano, Kurt Teichman, Hui Yi Ng He, Yin Wang, Andrea Soto Figueroa, Erin Weiss, Anna G Prince, James M Chevalier, Daniil Shimonov, Mina C Moghadam, Mert Sabuncu, Martin R Prince...

    Biomedicines. 2024 May 20;12(5):1133. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines12051133.

    ABSTRACT

    Abdominal imaging of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) has historically focused on detecting complications such as cyst rupture, cyst infection, obstructing renal calculi, and pyelonephritis; discriminating complex cysts from renal cell carcinoma; and identifying sources of abdominal pain. Many imaging features of ADPKD are incompletely evaluated or not deemed to be clinically significant, and because of this, treatment options are limited. However, total kidney volume (TKV) measurement has become important for assessing the risk of disease progression (i.e., Mayo Imaging Classification) and predicting tolvaptan treatment's efficacy. Deep learning for segmenting the kidneys has improved these measurements' speed, accuracy, and reproducibility. Deep learning models can also segment other organs and tissues, extracting additional biomarkers to characterize the extent to which extrarenal manifestations complicate ADPKD. In this concept paper, we demonstrate how deep learning may be applied to measure the TKV and how it can be extended to measure additional features of this disease.

    PMID:38791095 | PMC:PMC11118119 | DOI:10.3390/biomedicines12051133

  • Feasibility of Water Therapy for Slowing Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease Progression
    Hreedi Dev, Chenglin Zhu, Irina Barash, Jon D Blumenfeld, Xinzi He, Arindam RoyChoudhury, Alan Wu, Martin R Prince...

    Kidney360. 2024 May 1;5(5):698-706. doi: 10.34067/KID.0000000000000428. Epub 2024 Apr 1.

    ABSTRACT

    KEY POINTS:

    1. Water therapy in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) reduces urine osmolality and serum copeptin level, a marker of vasopressin activity.

    2. Water therapy reduces the ADPKD kidney growth rate indicating it is slowing disease progression.

    3. Patients with ADPKD are less likely to report pain on water therapy.

    BACKGROUND: In animal models of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), high water intake (HWI) decreases vasopressin secretion and slows disease progression, but the efficacy of HWI in human ADPKD is uncertain.

    METHODS: This exploratory, prospective, cross-over study of patients with ADPKD (N=7) evaluated the hypothesis that HWI slows the rate of increase in height-adjusted total kidney volume (ht-TKV; a biomarker for ADPKD progression) and reduces pain. Patients at high risk of ADPKD progression (i.e., Mayo Imaging Classifications 1C/1D) were evaluated during 6 months of usual water intake (UWI), followed by 12 months of HWI calculated to reduce urine osmolality (Uosm) to <285 mOsm/kg. Measurements of Uosm, serum copeptin (secreted in equimolar amounts with vasopressin), magnetic resonance imaging measurements of ht-TKV, and pain survey responses were compared between HWI and UWI.

    RESULTS: During HWI, mean 24-hour Uosm decreased compared with UWI (428 [398–432] mOsm/kg versus 209 [190–223] mOsm/kg; P = 0.01), indicating adherence to the protocol. Decreases during HWI also occurred in levels of serum copeptin (5.8±2.0 to 4.2±1.6 pmol/L; P = 0.03), annualized rate of increase in ht-TKV (6.8% [5.9–8.5] to 4.4% [3.0–5.0]; P < 0.02), and pain occurrence and pain interference during sleep (P < 0.01). HWI was well tolerated.

    CONCLUSIONS: HWI in patients at risk of rapid progression of ADPKD slowed the rate of ht-TKV growth and reduced pain. This suggests that suppressing vasopressin levels by HWI provides an effective nonpharmacologic treatment of ADPKD.

    PMID:38556640 | PMC:PMC11146649 | DOI:10.34067/KID.0000000000000428

  • Quantitative susceptibility mapping for detection of kidney stones, hemorrhage differentiation, and cyst classification in ADPKD
    Karl Schumacher, Martin R Prince, Jon D Blumenfeld, Hanna Rennert, Zhongxiu Hu, Hreedi Dev, Yi Wang, Alexey V Dimov...

    Abdom Radiol (NY). 2024 Jul;49(7):2285-2295. doi: 10.1007/s00261-024-04243-6. Epub 2024 Mar 26.

    ABSTRACT

    BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The objective is to demonstrate feasibility of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients and to compare imaging findings with traditional T1/T2w magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

    METHODS: Thirty-three consecutive patients (11 male, 22 female) diagnosed with ADPKD were initially selected. QSM images were reconstructed from the multiecho gradient echo data and compared to co-registered T2w, T1w, and CT images. Complex cysts were identified and classified into distinct subclasses based on their imaging features. Prevalence of each subclass was estimated.

    RESULTS: QSM visualized two renal calcifications measuring 9 and 10 mm and three pelvic phleboliths measuring 2 mm but missed 24 calcifications measuring 1 mm or less and 1 larger calcification at the edge of the field of view. A total of 121 complex T1 hyperintense/T2 hypointense renal cysts were detected. 52 (43%) Cysts appeared hyperintense on QSM consistent with hemorrhage; 60 (49%) cysts were isointense with respect to simple cysts and normal kidney parenchyma, while the remaining 9 (7%) were hypointense. The presentation of the latter two complex cyst subtypes is likely indicative of proteinaceous composition without hemorrhage.

    CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that QSM of ADPKD kidneys is possible and uniquely suited to detect large renal calculi without ionizing radiation and able to identify properties of complex cysts unattainable with traditional approaches.

    PMID:38530430 | DOI:10.1007/s00261-024-04243-6

  • Test Retest Reproducibility of Organ Volume Measurements in ADPKD Using 3D Multimodality Deep Learning
    Xinzi He, Zhongxiu Hu, Hreedi Dev, Dominick J Romano, Arman Sharbatdaran, Syed I Raza, Sophie J Wang, Kurt Teichman, George Shih, James M Chevalier, Daniil Shimonov, Jon D Blumenfeld, Akshay Goel, Mert R Sabuncu, Martin R Prince...

    Acad Radiol. 2024 Mar;31(3):889-899. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2023.09.009. Epub 2023 Oct 3.

    ABSTRACT

    RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Following autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) progression by measuring organ volumes requires low measurement variability. The objective of this study is to reduce organ volume measurement variability on MRI of ADPKD patients by utilizing all pulse sequences to obtain multiple measurements which allows outlier analysis to find errors and averaging to reduce variability.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to make measurements on multiple pulse sequences practical, a 3D multi-modality multi-class segmentation model based on nnU-net was trained/validated using T1, T2, SSFP, DWI and CT from 413 subjects. Reproducibility was assessed with test-re-test methodology on ADPKD subjects (n = 19) scanned twice within a 3-week interval correcting outliers and averaging the measurements across all sequences. Absolute percent differences in organ volumes were compared to paired students t-test.

    RESULTS: Dice similarlity coefficient > 97%, Jaccard Index > 0.94, mean surface distance < 1 mm and mean Hausdorff Distance < 2 cm for all three organs and all five sequences were found on internal (n = 25), external (n = 37) and test-re-test reproducibility assessment (38 scans in 19 subjects). When averaging volumes measured from five MRI sequences, the model automatically segmented kidneys with test-re-test reproducibility (percent absolute difference between exam 1 and exam 2) of 1.3% which was better than all five expert observers. It reliably stratified ADPKD into Mayo Imaging Classification (area under the curve=100%) compared to radiologist.

    CONCLUSION: 3D deep learning measures organ volumes on five MRI sequences leveraging the power of outlier analysis and averaging to achieve 1.3% total kidney test-re-test reproducibility.

    PMID:37798206 | PMC:PMC10957335 | DOI:10.1016/j.acra.2023.09.009

  • Size Matters: How to Characterize ADPKD Severity by Measuring Total Kidney Volume
    Martin R Prince, Erin Weiss, Jon D Blumenfeld

    J Clin Med. 2023 Sep 20;12(18):6068. doi: 10.3390/jcm12186068.

    ABSTRACT

    Following patients with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) has been challenging because serum biomarkers such as creatinine often remain normal until relatively late in the disease [...].

    PMID:37763007 | PMC:PMC10532118 | DOI:10.3390/jcm12186068

  • Clinical Quality Control of MRI Total Kidney Volume Measurements in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
    Chenglin Zhu, Hreedi Dev, Arman Sharbatdaran, Xinzi He, Daniil Shimonov, James M Chevalier, Jon D Blumenfeld, Yi Wang, Kurt Teichman, George Shih, Akshay Goel, Martin R Prince...

    Tomography. 2023 Jul 12;9(4):1341-1355. doi: 10.3390/tomography9040107.

    ABSTRACT

    Total kidney volume measured on MRI is an important biomarker for assessing the progression of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and response to treatment. However, we have noticed that there can be substantial differences in the kidney volume measurements obtained from the various pulse sequences commonly included in an MRI exam. Here we examine kidney volume measurement variability among five commonly acquired MRI pulse sequences in abdominal MRI exams in 105 patients with ADPKD. Right and left kidney volumes were independently measured by three expert observers using model-assisted segmentation for axial T2, coronal T2, axial single-shot fast spin echo (SSFP), coronal SSFP, and axial 3D T1 images obtained on a single MRI from ADPKD patients. Outlier measurements were analyzed for data acquisition errors. Most of the outlier values (88%) were due to breathing during scanning causing slice misregistration with gaps or duplication of imaging slices (n = 35), slice misregistration from using multiple breath holds during acquisition (n = 25), composing of two overlapping acquisitions (n = 17), or kidneys not entirely within the field of view (n = 4). After excluding outlier measurements, the coefficient of variation among the five measurements decreased from 4.6% pre to 3.2%. Compared to the average of all sequences without errors, TKV measured on axial and coronal T2 weighted imaging were 1.2% and 1.8% greater, axial SSFP was 0.4% greater, coronal SSFP was 1.7% lower and axial T1 was 1.5% lower than the mean, indicating intrinsic measurement biases related to the different MRI contrast mechanisms. In conclusion, MRI data acquisition errors are common but can be identified using outlier analysis and excluded to improve organ volume measurement consistency. Bias toward larger volume measurements on T2 sequences and smaller volumes on axial T1 sequences can also be mitigated by averaging data from all error-free sequences acquired.

    PMID:37489475 | PMC:PMC10366880 | DOI:10.3390/tomography9040107

  • Effect of Averaging Measurements From Multiple MRI Pulse Sequences on Kidney Volume Reproducibility in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
    Hreedi Dev, Chenglin Zhu, Arman Sharbatdaran, Syed I Raza, Sophie J Wang, Dominick J Romano, Akshay Goel, Kurt Teichman, Mina C Moghadam, George Shih, Jon D Blumenfeld, Daniil Shimonov, James M Chevalier, Martin R Prince...

    J Magn Reson Imaging. 2023 Oct;58(4):1153-1160. doi: 10.1002/jmri.28593. Epub 2023 Jan 16.

    ABSTRACT

    BACKGROUND: Total kidney volume (TKV) is an important biomarker for assessing kidney function, especially for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). However, TKV measurements from a single MRI pulse sequence have limited reproducibility, ± ~5%, similar to ADPKD annual kidney growth rates.

    PURPOSE: To improve TKV measurement reproducibility on MRI by extending artificial intelligence algorithms to automatically segment kidneys on T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and steady state free precession (SSFP) sequences in axial and coronal planes and averaging measurements.

    STUDY TYPE: Retrospective training, prospective testing.

    SUBJECTS: Three hundred ninety-seven patients (356 with ADPKD, 41 without), 75% for training and 25% for validation, 40 ADPKD patients for testing and 17 ADPKD patients for assessing reproducibility.

    FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: T2-weighted single-shot fast spin echo (T2), SSFP, and T1-weighted 3D spoiled gradient echo (T1) at 1.5 and 3T.

    ASSESSMENT: 2D U-net segmentation algorithm was trained on images from all sequences. Five observers independently measured each kidney volume manually on axial T2 and using model-assisted segmentations on all sequences and image plane orientations for two MRI exams in two sessions separated by 1-3 weeks to assess reproducibility. Manual and model-assisted segmentation times were recorded.

    STATISTICAL TESTS: Bland-Altman, Schapiro-Wilk (normality assessment), Pearson's chi-squared (categorical variables); Dice similarity coefficient, interclass correlation coefficient, and concordance correlation coefficient for analyzing TKV reproducibility. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

    RESULTS: In 17 ADPKD subjects, model-assisted segmentations of axial T2 images were significantly faster than manual segmentations (2:49 minute vs. 11:34 minute), with no significant absolute percent difference in TKV (5.9% vs. 5.3%, P = 0.88) between scans 1 and 2. Absolute percent differences between the two scans for model-assisted segmentations on other sequences were 5.5% (axial T1), 4.5% (axial SSFP), 4.1% (coronal SSFP), and 3.2% (coronal T2). Averaging measurements from all five model-assisted segmentations significantly reduced absolute percent difference to 2.5%, further improving to 2.1% after excluding an outlier.

    DATA CONCLUSION: Measuring TKV on multiple MRI pulse sequences in coronal and axial planes is practical with deep learning model-assisted segmentations and can improve TKV measurement reproducibility more than 2-fold in ADPKD.

    EVIDENCE LEVEL: 2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.

    PMID:36645114 | PMC:PMC10947493 | DOI:10.1002/jmri.28593

  • Pleural Effusions on MRI in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
    Jin Liu, Xiaorui Yin, Hreedi Dev, Xianfu Luo, Jon D Blumenfeld, Hanna Rennert, Martin R Prince

    J Clin Med. 2023 Jan 3;12(1):386. doi: 10.3390/jcm12010386.

    ABSTRACT

    Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) has cystic fluid accumulations in the kidneys, liver, pancreas, arachnoid spaces as well as non-cystic fluid accumulations including pericardial effusions, dural ectasia and free fluid in the male pelvis. Here, we investigate the possible association of ADPKD with pleural effusion. ADPKD subjects (n = 268) and age-gender matched controls without ADPKD (n = 268) undergoing body magnetic resonance imaging from mid-thorax down into the pelvis were independently evaluated for pleural effusion by 3 blinded expert observers. Subjects with conditions associated with pleural effusion were excluded from both populations. Clinical and laboratory data as well as kidney, liver and spleen volume, pleural fluid volume, free pelvic fluid and polycystic kidney disease genotype were evaluated. Pleural effusions were observed in 56 of 268 (21%) ADPKD subjects compared with 21 of 268 (8%) in controls (p < 0.0001). In a subpopulation controlling for renal function by matching estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), 28 of 110 (25%) ADPKD subjects had pleural effusions compared to 5 of 110 (5%) controls (p < 0.001). Pleural effusions in ADPKD subjects were more prevalent in females (37/141; 26%) than males (19/127,15%; p = 0.02) and in males were weakly correlated with the presence of free pelvic fluid (r = 0.24, p = 0.02). ADPKD subjects with pleural effusions were younger (48 ± 14 years old vs. 43 ± 14 years old) and weighed less (77 vs. 70 kg; p ≤ 0.02) than those without pleural effusions. For ADPKD subjects with pleural effusions, the mean volume of fluid layering dependently in the posterior−inferior thorax was 19 mL and was not considered to be clinically significant. Pleural effusion is associated with ADPKD, but its role in the pathogenesis of ADPKD requires further evaluation.

    PMID:36615184 | PMC:PMC9820892 | DOI:10.3390/jcm12010386

  • A common intronic single nucleotide variant modifies PKD1 expression level
    Zhengmao Zhang, Jon Blumenfeld, Andrew Ramnauth, Irina Barash, Pengbo Zhou, Daniel Levine, Thomas Parker, Hanna Rennert...

    Clin Genet. 2022 Dec;102(6):483-493. doi: 10.1111/cge.14214. Epub 2022 Sep 14.

    ABSTRACT

    Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), caused by mutations in PKD1 and PKD2 (PKD1/2), has unexplained phenotypic variability likely affected by environmental and other genetic factors. Approximately 10% of individuals with ADPKD phenotype have no causal mutation detected, possibly due to unrecognized risk variants of PKD1/2. This study was designed to identify risk variants of PKD genes through population genetic analyses. We used Wright's F-statistics (Fst) to evaluate common single nucleotide variants (SNVs) potentially favored by positive natural selection in PKD1 from 1000 Genomes Project (1KG) and genotyped 388 subjects from the Rogosin Institute ADPKD Data Repository. The variants with >90th percentile Fst scores underwent further investigation by in silico analysis and molecular genetics analyses. We identified a deep intronic SNV, rs3874648G> A, located in a conserved binding site of the splicing regulator Tra2-β in PKD1 intron 30. Reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) of peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) from an ADPKD patient homozygous for rs3874648-A identified an atypical PKD1 splice form. Functional analyses demonstrated that rs3874648-A allele increased Tra2-β binding affinity and activated a cryptic acceptor splice-site, causing a frameshift that introduced a premature stop codon in mRNA, thereby decreasing PKD1 full-length transcript level. PKD1 transcript levels were lower in PBL from rs3874648-G/A carriers than in rs3874648-G/G homozygotes in a small cohort of normal individuals and patients with PKD2 inactivating mutations. Our findings indicate that rs3874648G > A is a PKD1 expression modifier attenuating PKD1 expression through Tra2-β, while the derived G allele advantageously maintains PKD1 expression and is predominant in all subpopulations.

    PMID:36029107 | PMC:PMC10947153 | DOI:10.1111/cge.14214

  • Deep Learning Automation of Kidney, Liver, and Spleen Segmentation for Organ Volume Measurements in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
    Arman Sharbatdaran, Dominick Romano, Kurt Teichman, Hreedi Dev, Syed I Raza, Akshay Goel, Mina C Moghadam, Jon D Blumenfeld, James M Chevalier, Daniil Shimonov, George Shih, Yi Wang, Martin R Prince...

    Tomography. 2022 Jul 13;8(4):1804-1819. doi: 10.3390/tomography8040152.

    ABSTRACT

    Organ volume measurements are a key metric for managing ADPKD (the most common inherited renal disease). However, measuring organ volumes is tedious and involves manually contouring organ outlines on multiple cross-sectional MRI or CT images. The automation of kidney contouring using deep learning has been proposed, as it has small errors compared to manual contouring. Here, a deployed open-source deep learning ADPKD kidney segmentation pipeline is extended to also measure liver and spleen volumes, which are also important. This 2D U-net deep learning approach was developed with radiologist labeled T2-weighted images from 215 ADPKD subjects (70% training = 151, 30% validation = 64). Additional ADPKD subjects were utilized for prospective (n = 30) and external (n = 30) validations for a total of 275 subjects. Image cropping previously optimized for kidneys was included in training but removed for the validation and inference to accommodate the liver which is closer to the image border. An effective algorithm was developed to adjudicate overlap voxels that are labeled as more than one organ. Left kidney, right kidney, liver and spleen labels had average errors of 3%, 7%, 3%, and 1%, respectively, on external validation and 5%, 6%, 5%, and 1% on prospective validation. Dice scores also showed that the deep learning model was close to the radiologist contouring, measuring 0.98, 0.96, 0.97 and 0.96 on external validation and 0.96, 0.96, 0.96 and 0.95 on prospective validation for left kidney, right kidney, liver and spleen, respectively. The time required for manual correction of deep learning segmentation errors was only 19:17 min compared to 33:04 min for manual segmentations, a 42% time saving (p = 0.004). Standard deviation of model assisted segmentations was reduced to 7, 5, 11, 5 mL for right kidney, left kidney, liver and spleen respectively from 14, 10, 55 and 14 mL for manual segmentations. Thus, deep learning reduces the radiologist time required to perform multiorgan segmentations in ADPKD and reduces measurement variability.

    PMID:35894017 | PMC:PMC9326744 | DOI:10.3390/tomography8040152

  • Pericardial Effusion on MRI in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
    Jin Liu, Kana Fujikura, Hreedi Dev, Sadjad Riyahi, Jon Blumenfeld, Jiwon Kim, Hanna Rennert, Martin R Prince

    J Clin Med. 2022 Feb 21;11(4):1127. doi: 10.3390/jcm11041127.

    ABSTRACT

    Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) has been associated with cardiac abnormalities including mitral valve prolapse and aneurysmal dilatation of the aortic root. Herein, we investigated the potential association of pericardial effusion with ADPKD. Subjects with ADPKD (n = 117) and control subjects without ADPKD matched for age, gender and renal function (n = 117) undergoing MRI including ECG-gated cine MRI of the aorta and heart were evaluated for pericardial effusion independently by three observers measuring the maximum pericardial effusion thickness in diastole using electronic calipers. Pericardial effusion thickness was larger in ADPKD subjects compared to matched controls (Mann-Whitney p = 0.001) with pericardial effusion thickness >5 mm observed in 24 of 117 (21%) ADPKD subjects compared to 4 of 117 (3%) controls (p = 0.00006). Pericardial effusion thickness in ADPKD was associated with female gender patients (1.2 mm greater than in males, p = 0.03) and pleural effusion thickness (p < 0.001) in multivariate analyses. No subjects exhibited symptoms related to pericardial effusion or required pericardiocentesis. In conclusion, pericardial effusion appears to be more prevalent in ADPKD compared to controls. Although in this retrospective cross-sectional study we did not identify clinical significance, future investigations of pericardial effusion in ADPKD subjects may help to more fully understand its role in this disease.

    PMID:35207400 | PMC:PMC8879333 | DOI:10.3390/jcm11041127

  • Detection of PKD1 and PKD2 Somatic Variants in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Cyst Epithelial Cells by Whole-Genome Sequencing
    Zhengmao Zhang, Hanwen Bai, Jon Blumenfeld, Andrew B Ramnauth, Irina Barash, Martin Prince, Adrian Y Tan, Alber Michaeel, Genyan Liu, Ines Chicos, Lior Rennert, Stavros Giannakopoulos, Karen Larbi, Stuart Hughes, Steven P Salvatore, Brian D Robinson, Sandip Kapur, Hanna Rennert...

    J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021 Dec 1;32(12):3114-3129. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2021050690. Epub 2021 Dec 1.

    ABSTRACT

    BACKGROUND: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a genetic disorder characterized by the development of multiple cysts in the kidneys. It is often caused by pathogenic mutations in PKD1 and PKD2 genes that encode polycystin proteins. Although the molecular mechanisms for cystogenesis are not established, concurrent inactivating germline and somatic mutations in PKD1 and PKD2 have been previously observed in renal tubular epithelium (RTE).

    METHODS: To further investigate the cellular recessive mechanism of cystogenesis in RTE, we conducted whole-genome DNA sequencing analysis to identify germline variants and somatic alterations in RTE of 90 unique kidney cysts obtained during nephrectomy from 24 unrelated participants.

    RESULTS: Kidney cysts were overall genomically stable, with low burdens of somatic short mutations or large-scale structural alterations. Pathogenic somatic "second hit" alterations disrupting PKD1 or PKD2 were identified in 93% of the cysts. Of these, 77% of cysts acquired short mutations in PKD1 or PKD2 ; specifically, 60% resulted in protein truncations (nonsense, frameshift, or splice site) and 17% caused non-truncating mutations (missense, in-frame insertions, or deletions). Another 18% of cysts acquired somatic chromosomal loss of heterozygosity (LOH) events encompassing PKD1 or PKD2 ranging from 2.6 to 81.3 Mb. 14% of these cysts harbored copy number neutral LOH events, while the other 3% had hemizygous chromosomal deletions. LOH events frequently occurred at chromosomal fragile sites, or in regions comprising chromosome microdeletion diseases/syndromes. Almost all somatic "second hit" alterations occurred at the same germline mutated PKD1/2 gene.

    CONCLUSIONS: These findings further support a cellular recessive mechanism for cystogenesis in ADPKD primarily caused by inactivating germline and somatic variants of PKD1 or PKD2 genes in kidney cyst epithelium.

    PMID:34716216 | PMC:PMC8638386 | DOI:10.1681/ASN.2021050690

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