Reflecting on the highlights of ASN Kidney Week 2024
Now that everyone is back at base, it’s a perfect moment to look back on the highlights of ASN Kidney Week 2024. Various co-workers and partners of the PRIME-CKD consortium attended Kidney Week in beautiful, autumnal San Diego. They participated in poster presentations, lectures, receiving awards, or were simply attending as listeners. “There was an impressive focus on personalized/precision medicine, which greatly helped to spotlight the PRIME-CKD project,” noted Professor Maria F. Gomez (Lund University Diabetes Centre), vice-coordinator of PRIME-CKD.
Wenjun Ju (University of Michigan, leader WP2) and Erik Moedt (PhD, University Medical Center Groningen), presented study results during the “Diabetic Kidney Disease – Clinical: Novel Insights into Precision Medicine” session on Thursday, October 24. “Both lectures were very well received and are highly relevant in the context of PRIME-CKD,” added a proud Wenjun Ju.
Moedt concluded from his study Association of Urinary Epidermal Growth Factor with Kidney Outcomes and Effects of SGLT2 Inhibition: Results from the CANVAS and CREDENCE Trials that higher baseline uEGF/Cr was significantly associated with a lower risk of kidney disease progression in patients with T2D, both with and without CKD. Canagliflozin consistently reduced the uEGF/Cr decline compared to placebo.
Wenjun Ju’s study, Urinary Clusterin as a Pharmacodynamic Response Biomarker for the Endothelin Receptor Antagonist Atrasentan, identified and validated uCLU as a promising pharmacodynamic biomarker for assessing response to atrasentan. This discovery calls for further clinical evaluation and implementation, paving the way for individualized treatment through molecular stratification.
PRIME-CKD project leader Hiddo L. Heerspink was prominently visible during Kidney Week. He presented the findings from two major clinical studies, generating significant (media) attention with the remarkable results from his SMART study on the effects of semaglutide in patients with chronic kidney disease. This investigator initiated study demonstrated a notable reduction in kidney damage and inflammation due to this drug. Read more on this study.
And last but not least, on Friday, October 25, Heerspink, who said to be “deeply honored to receive this award,” accepted the Donald W. Seldin Young Investigator Award for his contributions and groundbreaking work as a clinical scientist in nephrology. Watch his portrait and talk on his study Innovations in Clinical Trial Design and Conduct for New Therapeutic Approaches in CKD (starting at 27:00).
