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During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
Please review the E-Poster format requirements carefully when preparing your E-Poster. Should your E-Poster not meet the mentioned requirements, it may not be displayed as described above.
E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
Please follow the instructions below to input your abstract title.
Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
The diagnosis of primary nephrotic syndrome primarily relies on renal biopsy findings; however, discrepancies of histological classification and clinical course often necessitate repeat biopsies, particularly for distinguishing minimal change disease (MCD) from focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). In this study, we applied spatial transcriptomics to examine gene expression differences between MCD and FSGS at submicron resolution, aiming to elucidate their distinct molecular and spatial characteristics.
Spatial gene expression profiling was performed using the Xenium platform (10x Genomics) on renal biopsy specimens from patients of renal allograft or diagnosed as MCD or FSGS at Nagoya University Hospital and affiliated institutions. In parallel, laser capture microdissection based bulk RNA sequencing of isolated glomeruli from the same biopsy samples and immunohistochemistry were conducted to validate transcriptomic findings.
Seventeen distinct glomerular cell types were identified based on spatial gene expression patterns. Differential expression gene (DEG) analysis revealed a large number of disease-associated DEGs in parietal epithelial cells (PECs), with prominent upregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related genes in FSGS. Notably, FSGS samples exhibited intratuft PECs – PECs that had migrated onto the glomerular tuft – showing stronger EMT activity confirmed by both gene expression and immunostaining. Cell-cell communication analysis suggested that intratuft PECs interact with surrounding mesangial and infiltrating myeloid cells, promoting extracellular matrix remodeling and lesion formation in FSGS. However, these findings varied substantially among individual glomeruli, revealing marked glomerular-level heterogeneity. Some glomeruli in MCD shared similar transcriptional signatures with those in FSGS, possibly explaining the histological overlap that complicates their clinical differentiation.
Integration of spatial transcriptomics with histological imaging in human renal biopsies captured disease-specific alteration in PECs localization and associated transcriptional states. Gene expression heterogeneity was evident even at the individual glomerulus level, emphasizing the importance of glomerulus-by-glomerulus transcriptomic evaluation rather than patient-level analysis in understanding glomerular disease pathogenesis.
