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Current insights into renal ciliopathies: what can genetics teach us
Pediatric Nephrology, 08/09/2012
Arts HA et al. – Ciliopathies are a group of clinically and genetically overlapping disorders whose etiologies lie in defective cilia. These are antenna–like organelles on the apical surface of numerous cell types in a variety of tissues and organs, the kidney included. Cilia play essential roles during development and tissue homeostasis, and their dysfunction in the kidney has been associated with renal cyst formation and renal failure. Recently, the term “renal ciliopathies” was coined for those human genetic disorders that are characterized by nephronophthisis, cystic kidneys or renal cystic dysplasia.
