New publication in Science Translational Medicine
The team of Prof Christian Kurts, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Hamburg, has discovered that even low, repeated doses of steroids can effectively stop inflammation in aggressive crescentic glomerulonephritis (cGN). This life-threatening kidney disease is usually treated with high-dose glucocorticoids, which often cause serious side effects such as diabetes, osteoporosis, and infections.
Using single-cell and spatial gene sequencing, the researchers identified a specific subgroup of proinflammatory neutrophils in the kidney that drive tissue damage. Repeated low-dose glucocorticoid therapy prevented the formation of these harmful cells in mice and was associated with fewer such cells in patient biopsies.
The findings suggest that low-dose steroid regimens could be a safer and more targeted way to treat cGN and to slow disease progression.
Publication
Yin J, Eichler M, Schaub DP, Asada N, Engesser J, Lisowski C, Paust HJ, Weisheit CK, Li J, Klaus D, Garbi N, Von Vietinghoff S, Krebs CF, Panzer U, Kurts C.
Low-dose glucocorticoids attenuate crescentic glomerulonephritis by inhibiting the local differentiation of proinflammatory neutrophils.
Science Translational Medicine 2025; https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.adu0351
