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Nephrology Section

Farhad R. Danesh, M.D.

Professor and Section Chief

The Nephrology section specializes in disorders and diseases of the kidneys in cancer patients. Our mission is to provide the highest level of patient care, expand the frontiers of basic and clinical investigation in nephrology, and support state-of-the-art training and education in nephrology. Our full-time faculty members are dedicated to clinical practice, research and teaching.

A message from the section chief

Welcome to the Nephrology section at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Kidney complications, because of cancer or its treatment, are becoming increasingly more prevalent in our population. Treatments for these onco-nephrology conditions are changing rapidly, and exciting new advances in basic and clinical research offer a promise of even more effective therapies to come.

As a research-intensive section in the Internal Medicine division, our faculty, fellows and staff provide state-of-the-art clinical care for patients with kidney diseases and generate new knowledge with the ultimate goal of improving our understanding and treatment of these diseases. The research is fostered by several NIH-funded grants. We also teach onco-nephrology to medical students, residents and fellows, while training the next generation of onco-nephrologists through our outstanding onco-nephrology fellowship program.

I encourage you to explore our website to learn more about us.

Farhad R. Danesh, M.D.
Professor and Section Chief

Section News

Nephrology Controversies and Case Discussions "Bayou City Bean Club"

The Bayou City Bean Club is a collaboration between MD Anderson; Baylor College of Medicine; McGovern Medical School, Houston; and Houston Methodist Hospital. This is a CME-sponsored education series designed to contribute to the education of professionals in the Texas Medical Center on special topics impacting Nephrology. It meets the 3rd Friday of every month from 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (in person or via Zoom). Please contact Savannah Kaspar, Program Coordinator, at SCKaspar@mdanderson.org for information on how to participate.

Next event

Friday, December 20th, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Rajeev Raghavan, MD, M.Ed, FASN
Title: "Music, Medicine, and the Kidney: Variations on a Theme"

Prior Speakers

Biruh Workeneh, MD, FASN, "Hypophosphatemia in Cancer Therapy: Prevalence, Mechanisms, and Complications" 11/15/2024

James A. Tumlin, MD, "IgA Nephropathy: Pathophysiology of the Gut-Renal Axis-Expanding Therapeutic Options" 10/18/2024

Ilse Sofia Daehn, BBtec (Hons), PhD, FASN, "Genetic Susceptibility to Diabetic Kidney Disease is Linked to Promoter Variants of XOR and Redox Regulation" 9/20/2024

Michael Wayne Holliday, Jr., MD, PhD, FASN, "Emerging evidence for glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists in slowing CKD progression" 8/16/2024

Medha Airy, MD, "Hyperaldosteronism in Chronic Kidney Disease" 7/19/2024

Donald Molony, MD, "Environmental Health Studies can Inform Uranium Mine Remediation on the Navajo Nation – The Central Role of the Dine Network for Environmental Health (DiNEH) Project" 6/21/2024

Kiran Shivaraj, MD, "Tofacitinib for the Treatment of Refractory Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Associated Immune Nephritis" 5/24/2024

Renal Rounds

The Nephrology section hosts weekly Renal Rounds for faculty and fellows to present on clinical and research topics and activities. Renal Rounds meets every Friday from 12:00 PM -1:00 PM. Please contact Savannah Kaspar at SCKaspar@mdanderson.org on how to participate.

1st and 2nd Friday of the month: Fellow case presentation
3rd Friday of the month: Bayou City Bean Club
Last Friday of the month: Biopsy Conference

Awards & Highlights

We are excited that multiple of our abstracts have been accepted for presentation at ASN Kidney Week 2024.

Session Title: Sodium, Potassium, and Volume Disorders: Clinical: Poster TH-PO360. Date& Time: October 24, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. "Ectopic Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) Syndrome presenting with hypokalemia in a patient with prostate cancer”

Session Title: Pathology and Lab Medicine - 1: Poster FR-PO969. Date & Time: October 25, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. “Glomerular intracytoplasmic vacuolization in a patient receiving PEG Biopharmaceutical”

Session Title: Onconephrology: Immunotherapy Nephrotoxicity and Assessment of GFR: Poster FR-PO206. Date & Time: October 25, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM “Rituximab in treatment of glomerulonephritis induced after immune check point inhibitors”

Session Title: Onconephrology: Models, Markers, and Medications: Abstract FR-OR76. Date & Time: October 25, 2024 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM. “Novel Urine Biomarkers Associated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Nephrotoxicity”

Session Title: Onconephrology: Models, Markers, and Medications: Abstract FR-OR78. Date & Time: October 25, 2024 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM. "Effect of IV Magnesium on Cisplatin-Associated AKI”

Session Title: Diabetic Kidney Disease - Basic: Discovery to Translational Science: Abstract SA-OR36. Date & Time: October 26, 2024 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM. "Mitochondrial Complex I Assembly Factor, NDUFAF1, Regulates Tubulointerstitial Fibrosis in Diabetic Kidney Disease Via a TCA Cycle Metabolite”

For more details, please navigate to https://www.asn-online.org/education/kidneyweek/archives/

Section Chief of Nephrology, Dr. Farhad Danesh, has been appointed to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) for a five-year term starting July 1, 2024, and concluding on July 31, 2029.

Nephrology Professor, Dr. Biruh Workeneh, was selected by the Baylor College of Medicine Internal Medicine residents to receive the 2024 Award for Best Subspecialty Teaching Faculty at MD Anderson.

Nephrology APRN, Kenneth Ward, won the Excellence in Advanced Clinical Practice award at the 2024 Division of Internal Medicine Excellence Awards held on May 30, 2024.

Recent Faculty Publications

Alhamid N, Sabbagh B, Alsarraj A, et al. Pitfalls of Current Diagnostic Criteria of Tumor Lysis Syndrome. Kidney Blood Press Res. Published online March 12, 2024. doi:10.1159/000538328
Bhatt SP, Rabe KF, Hanania NA, et al. Dupilumab for COPD with Blood Eosinophil Evidence of Type 2 Inflammation. N Engl J Med. 2024; 390(24): 2274-2283. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2401304
Bohat R, Liang X, Chen Y, et al. Faslpr genedosage tunes the extent of lymphoproliferation and T cell differentiation in lupus. Clin Immunol. 2024;258:109874. doi:10.1016/j.clim.2023.109874
Esmail A, Badheeb M, Alnahar B, et al. Cholangiocarcinoma: The Current Status of Surgical Options including Liver Transplantation. Cancers (Basel). 2024;16(11):1946. Published 2024 May 21. doi:10.3390/cancers16111946
Fayle SE, Palaskas NL, Siddiqui BA, et al. Development of a Strategic Initiative at MD Anderson Cancer Center to Improve Outcomes in Immune-Related Adverse Events. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2024; 22(5):e237119. Published 2024 Jan 8. doi:10.6004/jnccn.2023.7119
Gupta S, Glezerman IG, Hirsch JS, et al. Derivation and external validation of a simple risk score for predicting severe acute kidney injury after intravenous cisplatin: cohort study [published correction appears in BMJ. 2024 Jun 20;385:q1207. doi: 10.1136/bmj.q1207]. BMJ. 2024; 384:e077169. Published 2024 Mar 27. doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-077169
Hanif IH, Abdelrahim S, Al Shaarani M, et al. Immune Checkpoint Therapy-Induced Lupus Nephritis. Kidney Int Rep. 2024;9(5):1534-1537. Published 2024 Feb 16. doi:10.1016/j.ekir.2024.02.1396
Howard SC, Avagyan A, Workeneh B, Pui CH. Tumour lysis syndrome. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2024 Aug 22;10(1):58. doi: 10.1038/s41572-024-00542-w. Erratum in: Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2024 Sep 9;10(1):65. doi: 10.1038/s41572-024-00557-3. PMID: 39174582.
Imran N, Ayesh A, Workeneh B, Shahait A. Sodium Bicarbonate: Use and Misuse in Clinical Medicine. Am J Ther. 2024 Jul-Aug 01;31(4):e508-e510.
Kitchlu A, Silva VTCE, Anand S, et al. Assessment of GFR in Patients with Cancer: A Statement from the American Society of Onco-Nephrology. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2024;19(8):1061-1072. doi:10.2215/CJN.0000000000000508
Kitchlu A, Silva VTCE, Anand S, et al. Assessment of GFR in Patients with Cancer Part 2: Anticancer Therapies-Perspectives from the American Society of Onco-Nephrology (ASON).Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2024;19(8):1073-1077. doi:10.2215/CJN.0000000000000509
Mamlouk O, Strati P, Feng L, et al. Real-world analysis of safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy in lymphoma patients with decreased kidney function. Br J Haematol. 2024;204(1):e11-e16. doi:10.1111/bjh.19152
Mathur M, Barratt J, Chacko B, et al. A Phase 2 Trial of Sibeprenlimab in Patients with IgA Nephropathy. N Engl J Med. 2024;390(1):20-31. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2305635
Mise, K., Long, J., Galvan, D.L. et al. NDUFS4 regulates cristae remodeling in diabetic kidney disease. Nat Commun 15, 1965(2024).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46366-w
Shatila M, Eshaghi F, Thomas AR, Kuang AG, Shah JS, Zhao B, Naz S, Sun M, Fayle S, Jin J, et al. Practice Changes in Checkpoint Inhibitor-Induced Immune-Related Adverse Event Management at a Tertiary Care Center. Cancers. 2024; 16(2):369. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16020369
Shivaraj K, Tchakarov A, Dong Y, Lin JS. Tofacitinib for the treatment of refractory immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated immune nephritis. Clin Kidney J. 2024;17(5):sfae127. Published 2024 Apr 25. doi:10.1093/ckj/sfae127
Singampalli, K.L., Neal – Harris, C., Yee, C., Lin, J.S. and Lillehoj, P.B. (2024), Highly Reusable Electrochemical Immunosensor for Ultrasensitive Protein Detection. Adv. Sensor Res., 3:2400004. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsr.202400004
Spitz EC, Dittmar HB, Lee VL, et al. Nutritional Management of Patients With Both Chronic Kidney Disease and Cancer. J Ren Nutr. 2023;33(5):615-617. doi:10.1053/j.jrn.2023.08.001
Wijewickrama E, Behera S, Garcia P, et al. Kidney biopsies among persons living in hotspots of CKDu: a position statement from the International Society of Nephrology's Consortium of Collaborators on CKDu. Kidney Int. 2024;105(3):464-469. doi:10.1016/j.kint.2023.12.012