Clinical Research Directory

An Open-Label, Nonrandomized, Multicenter Extension Study to Evaluate the Long-term Safety and Efficacy of Pegcetacoplan in Participants With C3 Glomerulopathy or Immune-Complex Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis

This study is designed as a long-term extension to Study APL2-C3G-310, and is being conducted to establish the long-term safety and efficacy of pegcetacoplan in patients with C3 glomerulopathy (C3G) or immune-complex membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (IC-MPGN).

Developing a Pipeline to Employ RNA-Seq as a Complementary Diagnostic Tool in Rare Diseases

This project aims to identify, through RNA-Seq technology, the genetic alterations underlying undiagnosed rare diseases in pediatric and adult patients with early onset and with negative WES. * Objective 1: Set up and validate techniques. Set-up and validation of the transcriptome analysis protocol in healthy subjects and in patients with known splicing alterations and/or altered RNA expression. * Objective 2: Diagnostic phase. Study of splicing alterations and RNA levels in cultured fibroblasts obtained from skin biopsies of patients with rare genetic diseases and negative exome. Exploratory goals * Compare the RNA expression profile obtained from skin biopsy-derived fibroblasts with the RNA expression profile from blood. The most relevant results will be validated in qRT-PCR. * To analyze the transcriptional and protein profile heterogeneity in skin-derived fibroblasts in enrolled subjects. To explore the effects of genetic (from WES) and transcriptional (from RNA-seq) alterations in participants' plasma and serum. Healthy controls Five healthy subjects will be recruited from the staff of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research. The coded samples will be used to set up the method of isolation and culture of skin fibroblasts and RNA-Seq. Validation group For the set-up and validation of the skin fibroblast isolation and RNA-Seq procedure, ten adult patients with known diagnosis and with alterations in RNA levels and/or splicing will be recruited as positive controls. Patients who meet the requirements described above will be contacted by the doctors of the Daccò Center for an interview explaining the project. Those who agree to participate in the study will be asked to sign the informed consent before proceeding with the experimental part. "Discovery/Exploration" group The exploration cohort will be composed of 30 symptomatic undiagnosed patients with suspected genetic disease (children and adults with infantile onset) belonging to the Clinical Center of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and for whom WES investigations did not reveal causative genetic alterations.

New Analytic Tools for aHUS and C3G Diagnosis

This protocol is part of a larger project, COMPRare (COMPlement-mediated Rare kidney diseases), which has been financed on behalf of the EJP RD (European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases) program of EU and is leaded by a scientific consortium from 7 European countries. The partners (P) of the consortium are: P1. Radboudumc Amalia Children's Hospital (The Netherlands) P2. Semmelweis University (Hungary) P3. Cordeliers Research Center (France) P4. Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (Germany) P5. Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri (Italy) P6. Lund University (Sweden) P7. Lille University (France) The general aim of the project is to define new diagnostic tools for complement activation in order to improve patients stratification and follow-up, thereby affecting time and choice of treatment in patients with aHUS and C3G. Particularly, the specific objectives of the COMPRare are: * To develop new standardized analytic assays thereby identifying specific complement prognostic biomarkers for early diagnosis, classification, improved monitoring and treatment of patients with aHUS and C3G; * To in-depth characterize patients' complement abnormalities in blood, in patient-derived cells and in kidney biopsies; * To identify strategies to classify VUS/LPV * To find new pathophysiological pathways involved in aHUS and C3G for further improving disease diagnosis, monitoring and treatment. The results of these studies will form the basis of personalized treatment with existing and upcoming complement inhibitory drugs for these rare complement-mediated kidney diseases.

Evaluation of a Renin Inhibitor, Aliskiren, Compared to Enalapril, in C3 Glomerulopathy

The aim of this cross-over trial is to assess aliskiren, a direct renin inhibitor, as a novel treatment to block complement activation in the kidneys and thereby attenuate renal disease and stabilize or improve kidney function and compare it to the currently used treatment with the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, enalapril, in patients with the complement-mediated renal disease C3 glomerulopathy. Patients will be randomized to one or the other treatment for the first 6 months and then switch to the other treament for the following 2.5 years. Treatment will continue for altogether 3 years for each patient.

Study Assessing the Safety and Efficacy of Pegcetacoplan in Post-Transplant Recurrence of C3G or IC-MPGN

This is a Phase 2, multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pegcetacoplan in patients who have post-transplant recurrence of C3G or IC-MPGN.

National Registry of Rare Kidney Diseases

The goal of this National Registry is to is to collect information from patients with rare kidney diseases, so that it that can be used for research. The purpose of this research is to: * Develop Clinical Guidelines for specific rare kidney diseases. These are written recommendations on how to diagnose and treat a medical condition. * Audit treatments and outcomes. An audit makes checks to see if what should be done is being done and asks if it could be done better. * Further the development of future treatments. Participants will be invited to participate on clinical trials and other studies. The registry has the capacity to feedback relevant information to patients and in conjunction with Patient Knows Best (Home - Patients Know Best), allows patients to provide information themselves, including their own reported quality of life and outcome measures.