Professor Nigel Brunskill

Nigel Brunskill, Professor of Renal Medicine and Consultant Nephrologist at University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust, is Director of the Leicestershire Academic Health Partners (LAHP) and the University of Leicester Lead for Clinical Research. He is co-chair of the UK Kidney Research Consortium Chronic Kidney Disease Clinical Study Group and serves on the National Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine-East Midlands Management Executive Committee. He is also the Director of the NIHR Leicester Clinical Research Facility.

The LAHP partners are the University of Leicester, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS. Through the close proximity and collaborative efforts, Leicester has been able to adapt and target health research to the COVID-19 pandemic with quicker implementation of results to improve healthcare and benefits to the economy, one such example is the RECOVERY trial.

• Investigations into the mechanisms of progressive renal disease and diabetic nephropathy.
• Study of the cell biological and signalling importance of Cpeptide in the proximal tubule.
• Study of microparticles as novel markers of cardiovascular disease in uraemia.
• Urinary proteomics and advanced urinary diagnostics.
• Clinical studies into renal disease and its complications in pregnancy

Proteinuria and lipid signalling in the kidney

The presence of protein in the urine of patients with renal disease is an adverse prognostic feature. Those patients with proteinuria are much more likely to develop progressive renal scarring and eventual renal failure than those without proteinuria. My research examines the effect of albumin, and lipids bound to albumin, on proximal tubular cell growth and survival as well as other cellular functions. The effect of albumin on growth related signalling pathways is being studied. In addition lysophosphatidic acid signalling and transcriptional factor regulation in the kidney proximal tubule is a major focus of research.

Baines RJ, Brunskill NJ. Tubular toxicity of proteinuria. Nat Rev Nephrol 2011;7(3):177-80

Hills C, Brunskill NJ, Squires PE. C-peptide as a therapeutic tool in diabetic nephropathy. Am J Nephrol 2010;31(5):389-97

Hills C, Willars GB, Brunskill NJ. Proinsulin C-peptide antagonizes the profibrotic effects of TGF-beta 1 via up-regulation of retionoic acid and HGF-related signaling pathways. Mol Endocrinol 2010;24(4):822-31

Hills CE, Brunskill NJ. C-peptide and its intracellular signalling. Rev Diabet Stud 2009;6(3):138-47

Hills CE, Brunskill NJ. Cellular and physiological effects of C-peptide. Clin Sci (Lond) 2009;116(7):565-74

Hills CE, Al-Rasheed N, Willars GB, Brunskill NJ. C-peptide reverses TGF-beta1-induced changes in renal proximal tubular cells: implications for treatment of diabetic nephropathy. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 2009;296(3):F614-21

Baker R, Robertson N, Rogers S, Davies M, Brunskill N, Khunti K, Steiner M, Williams M, Sinfield P. The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLARHC) for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland (LNR): a programme protocol. Implement Sci 2009;12;4:72 

Baines R, Brunskill NJ. The molecular interactions between filtered proteins and proximal tubular cells in proteinuria. Nephron Exp Nephrol 2008;110(2):e67-71

Chana RS, Sidaway JE, Brunskill NJ. Statins but not thiazolidinediones attenuate albumin-mediated chemokine production by proximal tubular cells independently of endocytosis. Am J Nephrol 2008;28(5):823-30

Hills CE, Brunskill NJ. Intracellular signalling by c-peptide. Exp Diabetes Res 2008;2008:635158