# Developmental Origins of Kidney Function in Early Life and Environmental Risks

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $720,375

## Abstract

Project Summary
NYU School of Medicine, Rush University Medical Center and New York State Department of Health respond
to PA-19-056, proposing to study developmental origins of kidney function in early life and environmental risks.
The incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is steadily rising and synthetic chemicals are increasingly
understood to contribute to acute and chronic kidney injury. Case-control studies of populations with high
incidence rates have identified pesticide and herbicide exposures as risks, raising the question whether
developmental exposures may be even more impactful. Our own studies of children with CKD (R01DK100307)
have revealed modest declines in kidney function with increasing phthalate and bisphenol exposures,
accompanied by increases in oxidative stress. However, these findings do not contribute to our understanding
of the origin of CKD. A major limitation is the failure of our and other studies to account for the developmental
biology of the kidney and strong influence of perinatal/infant factors. The premise of the present proposal is
that intrauterine inflammatory processes disrupt nephrogenesis and that environmental chemicals also impair
renal parenchymal growth longitudinally during gestation and postnatal development via oxidant stress. We
further interrogate this hypothesis by examining phthalates, bisphenols, glyphosate and organophosphate (OP)
pesticides as modifiable risks. We will test these hypotheses in the New York University Children's Health and
Environment Study, one of the participating cohorts in the NIH Environmental Influences and Child Health
Outcomes Program (UH3OD023305). The proposed work builds upon our experience with postnatal renal
sonographic measurement, which we will add prospectively to the existing, funded follow up. The approach is
cost-efficient, leveraging existing measures for three exposure categories in pregnancy and infancy and
available biospecimens to measure soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor, an emerging
marker of kidney injury and development, and glyphosate. The MPIs (Trasande and Trachtman) are highly
complementary, coupling experts in children's environmental health with nephrology who have a track record
of productive MPI partnership in R01DK100307, which produced preliminary data in support of the proposed
work. Analyses will be performed by K. Kannan at Wadsworth Laboratories of the New York State Department
of Health, who has deep experience with precise measurement of glyphosate and metabolites in urine. In
contrast to many known CKD risks which are not amenable to modification or avoidance, pesticides and
herbicides can be reduced by consuming organic foods while phthalates and bisphenols can be reduced by
avoiding canned and processed foods. The proposed work has the potential to shift the paradigm of origins of
CKD to focus needed attention on its developmental origins.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10064557
- **Project number:** 1R01ES032214-01
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** HOWARD TRACHTMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $720,375
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-02 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10064557

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10064557, Developmental Origins of Kidney Function in Early Life and Environmental Risks (1R01ES032214-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10064557. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*