# Facilitating personalized medicine of monogenic stone patients by genetic characterization

> **NIH NIH R21** · MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER · 2020 · $238,500

## Abstract

Facilitating personalized medicine of monogenic stone patients by genetic characterization
 Next generation sequencing (NGS), including employing a targeted (t)NGS panel of known and candidate
genes, is highlighting that severe, inherited forms of urinary stone disease (USD) are more common than
previously appreciated, with ~40 genes now implicated. These monogenic USD are at the forefront of the
application of personalized medicine in nephrology. Treatments can target enzymes/mRNAs encoding key
steps in the defective metabolic pathway that lead to accumulation of harmful intermediates or via chaperone
treatments to help fold and correctly traffic the mutated proteins. Genic and allelic information is increasingly a
prerequisite for involvement in these targeted clinical trials. Over the past 10 years, the Rare Kidney Stone
Consortium (RKSC) has focused on recruiting and characterizing patient populations with monogenic USD with
the aims to understand the natural history of the disorders, conduct genotype/phenotype studies, and
categorize patients for clinical studies. This initially involved Sanger sequencing but more recently tNGS with a
~100 gene panel. As part of this screening, patients presumed to have either primary hyperoxaluria (PH) or
Dent disease (two common USD), but without mutations in the canonical genes for these disorders by Sanger
sequencing, were screened on the panel. Out of 297 analyzed patients, a monogenic cause was detected in
30 cases (10.1%), with mutations identified in 11 different genes. In the past year, all RKSC recruited patients
have been primarily genetically screened employing this tNGS approach and of 102 families screened 33
(32.4%) have been genetically resolved with 8 different genes identified. Interestingly, in ~15% of cases
genetic complexity was identified with an additional likely pathogenic variant in a second monogenic gene.
Unfortunately, funding for the RKSC was recently lost but we plan to keep the consortium intact and here
propose to genetically characterize monogenic USD recruited through the RKSC groups, primarily to identify
patients for inclusion in clinical trials. The proposal has two specific aims: 1. Genotype patients with a
phenotype consistent with a monogenic form of nephrolithiasis or nephrocalcinosis using global NGS
approaches and 2. Characterize and analyze the array of variants beyond the causative gene in
monogenic stone patients. The project has co-PIs, one an expert in clinical and biochemical aspects of USD
(Dr. Lieske), and one an expert in the genetics of monogenic kidney diseases (Dr. Harris). Tested tNGS
approached will be employed along with a developed and proven bioinformatics pipeline to identify likely
causative variants. These results will be returned to the referring physician, with safeguards of counseling and
variant conformation, to provide diagnostic information, to allow personalized treatment, and encourage clinical
trial recruitment. The accumulated knowledge...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9948955
- **Project number:** 1R21TR003174-01
- **Recipient organization:** MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter C. Harris
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $238,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9948955

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9948955, Facilitating personalized medicine of monogenic stone patients by genetic characterization (1R21TR003174-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9948955. Licensed CC0.

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