
Ignacio Portales Castillo, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Nephrology
- Phone: 314 273 8487
- Email: ignacio@wustl.edu
Research interest
Metabolic Regulation
Complications
Category(ies) of Research
Basic
Translational
Descriptor of Research
My research focuses on disorders of parathyroid hormone signaling. One of the main aspects of my work focuses on patients with CKD and diabetes
who have adynamic bone disease. Thus, patients with renal disease and diabetes have a higher risk of decreased PTH response in the bone, which
carries greater risk of fractures and associates with vascular calcification. Moreover, it is currently unclear how these patients should be treated to reduce
risk of fractures without further affecting bone turnover. Thus, my studies include cellular mechanisms of PTH resistance including cell signaling using
microscopy and functional assays, animal models of PTH resistance, clinical studies in patients with CKD and diabetes, as well as analysis of proteins
that are able to bind and interact with calcium, such as albumin or immunoglobulins