Genetic Study of Nephrolithiasis in Gouty Diathesis

INTRODUCTION Nephrolithiasis is a common disorder with a reported incidence of 12% in industrialized countries. The peak incidence is in ages 20s to 40s. Men are affected two to three times more often than women. Gouty diathesis describes uric acid or calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis and low urinary pH (<5.5) in the absence of excessive gastrointestinal alkali loses or dietary animal protein excess. Hyperuricemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and a history of gouty arthritis may be present. Subjects with gout are singularly predisposed to stone formation. Persistent acidity of the urine is a common manifestation of primary gout, that may be accompanied by uric acid nephrolithiasis. In the presence of an increase in the concentration of uric acid in the urine, the formation of uric acid stones is further facilitated.

In the primary forms of nephrolithiasis the most important predisposing factors for kidney stones are: hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, hyperuricosuria, hypocitraturia, hypomagnesuria, high urinary sulfate, low urine volume, high urinary sodium, cystinuria, infection, persistently high or low urinary pH. A hereditary component has been outlined for several of these abnormalities, leading to the hypothesis of a genetic predisposition to nephrolithiasis. Pirastu and co-workers took advantage from a small, isolated population from Sardinia, characterized by a high prevalence of Uric Acid Nephrolithiasis (UAN). The disease shows familial clustering, although the transmission of UAN does not follow a simple mendelian inheritance pattern, suggesting that hereditary factors could play an important role in susceptibility to UAN. They found an association of UAN to a new gene, called ZNF365, and in particular to its variant Ala62Thr, making it a strong candidate predisposing factor.

At the Unit of Nephrology, Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, we follow at the moment 560 patients with nephrolithiasis of which more than 100 are affected by gouty diathesis. 50% of all patients with gouty diathesis has a familiarity for kidney stones formation.

Understanding of the genetic factors that contribute to the development of this disorder may lead to earlier diagnosis, thus allowing to identify, within a family, subjects that are at risk to develop nephrolithiasis before manifestation of the disease. These subjects may have access to counseling aimed at modifying their dietetic and sanitary attitudes and/or to pharmacological treatments in order to prevent the manifestation of the renal disease or to slow its progression.

AIM The study is aimed at identifying the genetic factors that predispose to the development of nephrolithiasis in patients with gouty diathesis.