David J. Salant, MB BCh
Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Medicine
Nephrology

MBBCh, University of the Witwatersrand



Salant is Professor of Medicine and Vice-Chair for Research. He received his medical degree from University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and completed his clinical training at Johannesburg General Hospital. He received his research training at Boston University with Dr. William G. Couser and joined BU’s nephrology faculty in 1979. Dr. Salant is an internationally renowned physician-scientist and an acclaimed educator. His research primarily explores the immune basis for glomerular diseases and the mechanisms of podocyte injury. He was among the first to identify podocytes as the primary target of injury in antibody-mediated glomerular diseases. In a landmark New England Journal of Medicine paper in 2009, Drs. Salant, Beck and colleagues described their discovery of the target antigen in membranous nephropathy and showed that a high proportion of MN patients have circulating autoantibodies to the phospholipase A2 receptor on human podocytes. Dr. Salant is a past chairman of the ABIM Sub-specialty Board of Examiners in Nephrology, and recipient of several national and international awards for his scientific contributions, including election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, the John P. Peters Award from the American Society of Nephrology, the Jean Hamburger Award from the International Society of Nephrology, the Donald W. Seldin Award from the National Kidney Foundation, the Marilyn Farquhar Award at the 11th Annual Podocyte Conference and the Edward N. Gibbs Award and Lectureship from the New York Academy Sciences.

Research Expertise

Experimental models of immunological glomerular diseases and autoimmunity resembling those seen in man are used to obtain a fundamental understanding of the immunopathogenetic mechanisms of injury.

Antibody-mediated podocyte injury:
The primary focus of the Salant laboratory is on the immune basis of glomerular diseases with particular regard to the humoral mechanisms of glomerular cell injury. Current work will elucidate the mechanisms by which antibodies alter the function and morphology of glomerular visceral epithelial cells (podocytes).
1. We have identified the target antigen in human membranous nephropathy as the phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) and shown that about 75% of patients have circulating ant-PLA2R autoantibodies. Current work is directed at defining the mechanisms of podocyte injury induced by anti-PLA2R using a combination of in vitro, in vivo and human genetic techniques. Additional studies will explore the role of anti-PLA2R in the development of recurrent membranous nephropathy post renal transplantation.
2. Ongoing interests include the role of podocyte-specific antibodies, and the effects of complement-mediated injury on podocyte structure, composition of the filtration slit diaphragm and its attachment to the cytoskeleton, and on cell-matrix adhesion using animal models, cell biological and immunochemical methodologies.

Mechanisms of post-inflammatory renal fibrogenesis:
We have also developed a murine model of antibody-dependent rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis in which necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis is associated with the activation of chemokine and interstitial-type collagen genes, followed by the development of interstitial fibrosis and renal failure. Since interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy are common to all forms of chronic progressive renal diseases and are the most reliable pathological indicators of an adverse long-term prognosis in humans, this mouse model in which the onset of immune injury is rapidly followed (within 5 days) by the induction and proliferation of interstitial cells expressing high levels of mRNA for type I collagen affords a unique opportunity to study the mechanisms of post-inflammatory renal fibrogenesis

Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine


Vice Chair
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Medicine
Research Implementation

Member
Boston University
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research


Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences




Research Training in Nephrology
07/01/1975 - 06/30/2005 (PI)
NIH/National Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases
5 T32 DK07053 31

Case Mix Models for End Stage Renal Disease Patients
07/31/1996 - 06/30/2001 (Dept Sponsor)
NIH/National Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases
5 K08 DK02453 05


Mechanisms mediating podocyte-parietal epithelial cell crosstalk in proliferative glomerulopathies
09/14/2020 - 05/31/2024 (PI)
State University of New York at Stony Brook National Institutes
5R01DK121846-04

Detection of Anti- Fabrazyme Antiboty in Kidney Biopsy Sample
06/21/2018 - 09/30/2023 (PI)
Sanofi

Role of PLA2R and Anti-PLA2R in Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy
09/01/2011 - 07/31/2017 (PI)
NIH-NIDDK
5R01 DK090029-05

Alnylam Sponsored Research Agreement
05/07/2014 - 05/31/2016 (PI)
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Efficacy of Targeted Complement Regulatory Proteins in Experimental Membranous Nephropathy
01/01/2013 - 11/30/2015 (PI)
Alexion Pharmaceuticals

Research Training in Nephrology
07/01/2010 - 06/30/2015 (PI)
NIH-NIDDK
5T32DK007053-41

Anti-PLA2R Immunoreactivity
05/18/2009 - 05/31/2013 (PI)
Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Podocyte-specific human PLA2R transgenic mouse model of membranous nephropathy
07/02/2010 - 06/30/2012 (PI)
NIH-NIAID
1R21 AI090238-02

Antibody Mediated Glomerular Injury
03/01/2006 - 12/31/2011 (PI)
NIH-NIDDK
5R01 DK030932-26

Research Training in Nephrology
07/01/2005 - 06/30/2010 (PI)
NIH-NIDDK
5 T32 DK007053-36

Showing 10 of 20 results. Show All Results

Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2016 Research Training in Nephrology 5T32DK007053-43 48
2015 Role of PLA2R and anti-PLA2R in idiopathic membranous nephropathy 5R01DK090029-05 18
2015 Research Training in Nephrology 2T32DK007053-42 48
2014 Role of PLA2R and anti-PLA2R in idiopathic membranous nephropathy 5R01DK090029-04 18
2014 Research Training in Nephrology 5T32DK007053-41 48
2013 Role of PLA2R and anti-PLA2R in idiopathic membranous nephropathy 5R01DK090029-03 18
2013 Research Training in Nephrology 5T32DK007053-40 48
2012 Role of PLA2R and anti-PLA2R in idiopathic membranous nephropathy 5R01DK090029-02 18
2012 Research Training in Nephrology 5T32DK007053-39 48
2011 Role of PLA2R and anti-PLA2R in idiopathic membranous nephropathy 1R01DK090029-01A1 18
Showing 10 of 66 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Liu F, Ryan ST, Fahnoe KC, Morgan JG, Cheung AE, Storek MJ, Best A, Chen HA, Locatelli M, Xu S, Schmidt E, Schmidt-Jiménez LF, Bieber K, Henderson JM, Lian CG, Verschoor A, Ludwig RJ, Benigni A, Remuzzi G, Salant DJ, Kalled SL, Thurman JM, Holers VM, Violette SM, Wawersik S. C3d-Targeted factor H inhibits tissue complement in disease models and reduces glomerular injury without affecting circulating complement. Mol Ther. 2024 Apr 03; 32(4):1061-1079.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38382529
     
  2. Kistler AD, Salant DJ. Complement activation and effector pathways in membranous nephropathy. Kidney Int. 2024 Mar; 105(3):473-483. PMID: 38142037
     
  3. Bronstein R, Pace J, Gowthaman Y, Salant DJ, Mallipattu SK. Podocyte-Parietal Epithelial Cell Interdependence in Glomerular Development and Disease. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2023 May 01; 34(5):737-750. PMID: 36800545; PMCID: PMC10125654; DOI: 10.1681/ASN.0000000000000104;
     
  4. Kumar S, Fan X, Rasouly HM, Sharma R, Salant DJ, Lu W. ZEB2 controls kidney stromal progenitor differentiation and inhibits abnormal myofibroblast expansion and kidney fibrosis. JCI Insight. 2023 Jan 10; 8(1).View Related Profiles. PMID: 36445780; PMCID: PMC9870089; DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.158418;
     
  5. Pace JA, Bronstein R, Guo Y, Yang Y, Estrada CC, Gujarati N, Salant DJ, Haley J, Bialkowska AB, Yang VW, He JC, Mallipattu SK. Podocyte-specific KLF4 is required to maintain parietal epithelial cell quiescence in the kidney. Sci Adv. 2021 Sep 03; 7(36):eabg6600. PMID: 34516901; PMCID: PMC8442927; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg6600;
     
  6. Edwards A, Salant D, Benzing T. Insights into Glomerular Filtration and Albuminuria. Reply. N Engl J Med. 2021 07 29; 385(5):478.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34320302
     
  7. Benzing T, Salant D. Insights into Glomerular Filtration and Albuminuria. N Engl J Med. 2021 Apr 15; 384(15):1437-1446. PMID: 33852781
     
  8. Beck LH, Berasi SP, Copley JB, Gorman D, Levy DI, Lim CN, Henderson JM, Salant DJ, Lu W. PODO: Trial Design: Phase 2 Study of PF-06730512 in Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis. Kidney Int Rep. 2021 Jun; 6(6):1629-1633.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34169203; PMCID: PMC8207305; DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2021.03.892;
     
  9. Haddad G, Lorenzen JM, Ma H, de Haan N, Seeger H, Zaghrini C, Brandt S, Kölling M, Wegmann U, Kiss B, Pál G, Gál P, Wüthrich RP, Wuhrer M, Beck LH, Salant DJ, Lambeau G, Kistler AD. Altered glycosylation of IgG4 promotes lectin complement pathway activation in anti-PLA2R1-associated membranous nephropathy. J Clin Invest. 2021 03 01; 131(5).View Related Profiles. PMID: 33351779; PMCID: PMC7919733; DOI: 10.1172/JCI140453;
     
  10. Braden GL, Chapman A, Ellison DH, Gadegbeku CA, Gurley SB, Igarashi P, Kelepouris E, Moxey-Mims MM, Okusa MD, Plumb TJ, Quaggin SE, Salant DJ, Segal MS, Shankland SJ, Somlo S. Advancing Nephrology: Division Leaders Advise ASN. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021 02 08; 16(2):319-327. PMID: 32792352; PMCID: PMC7863658; DOI: 10.2215/CJN.01550220;
     
Showing 10 of 177 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 158 publications over 42 distinct years, with a maximum of 8 publications in 1998

YearPublications
19803
19824
19833
19841
19854
19866
19874
19883
19894
19903
19912
19925
19932
19942
19953
19962
19977
19988
19994
20001
20012
20025
20033
20042
20055
20075
20082
20093
20105
20117
20124
20134
20144
20155
20165
20175
20185
20194
20203
20215
20233
20241

2018-2018 New York Academy Sciences: Edward N. Gibbs Lectureship and Award
2016-2016 11th International Podocyte Conference: Marilyn Farquhar Award
2015-2015 National Kidney Foundation: Donald W. Seldin Award
2015-2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science: Fellow
2015-2015 Boston University: Innovator of the Year
2013-2013 International Society of Nephrology: Jean Hamburger Award
2013-2013 American Society of Nephrology: John P. Peters Award
2011-2011 International Society of Nephrology: Donald Seldin Plenary Lecture at the World Congress of Nephrology, Vancouver, BC.
1995-1995 American Association of Physicians: Elected
1987-1987 American Society for Clinical Investigation: Elected
1985-1990 American Heart Association: Established Investigator Award
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Kidney disease
Glomerulonephritis
Proteinuria
Lupus
Kidney stones
Membranous nephropathy
Nephrotic syndrome
Autoimmunity
Contact for Mentoring:

650 Albany St Evans Biomed Research Ctr
Boston MA 02118
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