# Identification of Non-Invasive Biomarkers and Indices for Diagnosis of Drug-Induced Acute Interstitial Nephritis

> **NIH NIH K23** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $183,097

## Abstract

Candidate: The candidate, Dr. Dennis G. Moledina, is a board-certified nephrologist at the Yale School of
Medicine. The proposed research builds on his past work on evaluating novel biomarkers to phenotype human
acute kidney injury. After completing a clinical fellowship in nephrology at Yale, he received three additional
years of training in methods of clinical translational research. He is a PhD candidate with Yale’s Investigative
Medicine Program, which provides research training to aspiring physician-scientists. Through this program, he
attended didactic coursework on clinical research methodology, biostatistics, and immunobiology. During this
award, the candidate will develop additional skills that are required to achieve his long-term goal of becoming
an academic translational physician-scientist studying immune-mediated kidney diseases. These skill areas
will be developed through hands-on, mentored research training and advanced didactic coursework. The
candidate has strong institutional commitment from Yale including assured transition to a faculty position. He
will conduct the proposed research under the mentorship of Dr. Chirag R. Parikh, who is a world-renowned
clinical investigator with expertise in biomarker research in acute kidney injury. Additional, he will receive
guidance from a highly-qualified mentorship committee at Yale.
Project: Drug-induced acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) results from immune-mediated kidney injury, which is
triggered by commonly used drugs. Patients with AIN may escape clinical attention because they have a subtle
clinical presentation with minimal symptoms and subacute loss of renal function. Moreover, since there is no
noninvasive diagnostic test for this disease, its diagnosis requires a kidney biopsy, which carries risks. As a
result, many cases of AIN remain undiagnosed, which leads to permanent kidney damage and chronic kidney
disease. The overall goal of this proposal is to improve the ability to non-invasively diagnose AIN by identifying
biomarkers and developing indices. The candidate hypothesizes that AIN is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction
mediated by type 1 and 2 T-helper cells (Th1/Th2), and predicts that the characteristic inflammatory mediators
produced by these cells, specifically interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin(IL)-2 (Th1), and IL-4,
IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13 (Th2), will be higher in the plasma and/or urine of AIN participants as compared with study
participants without AIN. In aim 1, the candidate will identify biomarkers that distinguish AIN from other causes
of acute loss of renal function. In aim 2, the candidate will develop two diagnostic indices for AIN; the first will
use currently available clinical and laboratory variables and the second will combine currently available
variables with novel biomarkers (from aim 1). These indices will provide probability of AIN diagnosis without
requiring a kidney biopsy. In aim 3, the candidate will validate the biomarker...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10457945
- **Project number:** 5K23DK117065-05
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Dennis G. Moledina
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $183,097
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-11 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10457945

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10457945, Identification of Non-Invasive Biomarkers and Indices for Diagnosis of Drug-Induced Acute Interstitial Nephritis (5K23DK117065-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10457945. Licensed CC0.

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