The Frontiers Meeting in Bergamo focused on the two prototypical complement-mediated kidney diseases: atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and C3 Glomerulopathies /Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis (C3G/MPGN), both very rare and severe diseases. aHUS is an ultra-rare disease with an estimated prevalence of 1/100,000, while primary C3G/MPGN has an estimated prevalence of 16/100,000.

Despite current available treatments, key issues regarding diagnosis and genetic assessment remain a challenge. An analysis of knowledge advancement is urgently required to identify key issues relevant to the optimal management of these two diseases and to propose a research agenda to resolve outstanding controversial issues.

The meeting gathered a global panel of clinical and scientific expertise and brought together clinicians, scientists, academics, and general practitioners to share and present the latest developments in terms of differential diagnosis, disease classification, genetics, and identifying knowledge gaps and unmet treatment needs.

There is an urgent clinical need to precisely characterize the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms in each patient to identify the target molecule within the complex complement cascade (such as C3, factor B, factor D, C5, C5a and C5aR) and the suitable inhibitor among those in the clinical pipeline.