EVALUATION OF EPITHELIAL TO MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION IN PERITONEAL FUNCTIONAL DECLINE AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Abstract BACKGROUND AND AIMS Prior results demonstrated preliminary in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients that mesothelial cells are able to undergo mesothelial to mesenchymal transition (MMT) by differential genomic reprogramming, correlating with local damage of the peritoneum and a final ultrafiltration failure [1]. Therefore, our main goal is to find biomarkers with prediction and diagnosis value of all PD-induced MMT changes and CVD outcomes in PD effluents, biopsies or plasma from a longitudinal retrospective study of a European patient cohort of CKD, PD and HD, correlating them with cardiovascular disease (CVD), systemic inflammation, patient outcomes and animal models along with the IMPROVE-PD consortium. METHOD Analysis of EU biobanks: interrelation of MMT and CVD markers by qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, 3D-transwell models, citometry (Magpix) and echocardiography. Statistical analysis and machine learning (MA): correlograms, PCA modelling, K-means clustering, decision trees. RESULTS CONCLUSION Despite the rising awareness of the need for the improvement of the PD-MMT process, patients still carry a heavy burden of CVD and low survival rates of 5 years. IMPROVE-PD intends to combat them from different clinical and research fronts.