Jan Novak
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Microbiology & Immunology
IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis in the world, meaning inflammation of the kidney's filtering units that begins in the kidney itself. Many patients progress to kidney failure.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biochemistry
- Topics
IgA nephropathy
IgAN
glomerulonephritis
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2028
What they work on
- Test whether circulating IgA1 immune complexes from patients with progressive IgA nephropathy are larger and more active, measuring their ability to make kidney mesangial cells grow, signal and release cytokines, compared with non-progressive disease.
- Determine the molecular O-glycophenotypes, the patterns of sugar chains on IgA1, in circulating immune complexes from patients with progressive versus non-progressive IgA nephropathy.
- Define how processing of complement protein C3 and the presence of complement-regulating proteins affect the biological activity of IgA1–IgG immune complexes, using in vitro and in vivo models of IgA nephropathy.
More about the research
The disease is defined by deposits of IgA1, a type of antibody, in the mesangium, the supporting tissue of the kidney's filters. The team proposed a multi-step model of how IgAN develops. It has shown that most patients make IgA1 molecules with certain sugar chains (hinge-region O-glycans) that lack galactose, called Gd-IgA1, and some that also lack sialic acid. The immune system makes IgG autoantibodies against these abnormal IgA1 molecules. The two bind together into immune complexes that circulate in the blood and can lodge in the kidney.
Why it matters
Many people with IgA nephropathy, the most common primary glomerulonephritis worldwide, eventually develop kidney failure. Pinpointing what makes IgA1 immune complexes harmful could guide the development of future therapies. It could also help doctors identify which patients are at highest risk of progression and stratify patients for clinical trials.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Laith Al-Rabadi
University of Utah, UT·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Identify the HTRA1 epitopes, the protein regions bound by autoantibodies, in membranous nephropathy, and determine how antibody binding affects HTRA1's protein-cutting function, using proteomics and patient biospecimens.
Rupali Avasare
Oregon Health & Science University, OR·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Determine whether circulating NELL1 antibodies, measured by Western blot, associate with and precede protein loss in the urine among 150 lipoic acid users followed over two years.
Jeffrey Schneider
Rush University, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
Characterize the glycosylation patterns, the sugar chains attached to antibodies, on bulk IgA isolated from people living with HIV versus people without HIV, and test whether these patterns correlate with viral load.
The school
University of Alabama at Birmingham: 45 labs on PI Pages, $866M a year on research, 166 research doctorates a year.
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