title: The nephrologist of tomorrow: towards a kidney-omic future.
abstract: Omics refers to the collective technologies used to explore the roles and relationships of the various types of molecules that make up the phenotype of an organism. Systems biology is a scientific discipline that endeavours to quantify all of the molecular elements of a biological system. Therefore, it reflects the knowledge acquired by omics in a meaningful manner by providing insights into functional pathways and regulatory networks underlying different diseases. The recent advances in biotechnological platforms and statistical tools to analyse such complex data have enabled scientists to connect the experimentally observed correlations to the underlying biochemical and pathological processes. We discuss in this review the current knowledge of different omics technologies in kidney diseases, specifically in the field of pediatric nephrology, including biomarker discovery, defining as yet unrecognized biologic therapeutic targets and linking omics to relevant standard indices and clinical outcomes. We also provide here a unique perspective on the field, taking advantage of the experience gained by the large-scale European research initiative called "Systems Biology towards Novel Chronic Kidney Disease Diagnosis and Treatment" (SysKid). Based on the integrative framework of Systems biology, SysKid demonstrated how omics are powerful yet complex tools to unravel the consequences of diabetes and hypertension on kidney function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Kentucky Children's Hospital, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
authors.forename: Mina H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hanna
authors.affiliation: Renal Unit, Department of Medicine, Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dalla Gassa
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine IV (Nephrology and Hypertension), Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.affiliation: Renal Unit, Department of Medicine, Verona University Hospital, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zaza
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Nephrology, University of Iowa Children's Hospital, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Brophy
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Emergenza e Trapianti di Organi (D.E.T.O), University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Loreto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gesualdo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Emergenza e Trapianti di Organi (D.E.T.O), University of Bari, Bari, Italy. f.pesce@imperial.ac.uk.|Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics, National Heart and Lung Institute, Royal Brompton Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK. f.pesce@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2882-4226
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pesce
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology*; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D055432:Metabolomics; D000072104:Nephrologists; D009398:Nephrology / Q000639:trends*; D040901:Proteomics; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000639:trends
keywords: Biomarkers; Omics; Pediatric nephrology; SysKid; Systems biology