Endemic (Balkan) nephropathy is aristolochic acid nephropathy.

Endemic nephropathy is a syndrome that comprises two entities: chronic interstitial nephropathy and urothelial cell cancers predominantly of the upper urinary tract. The etiological agent for the disease is aristolochic acid, a compound found in the plants of Aristolochia spp. The development of urothelial cancers is characterized by the formation of aristolactam DNA adducts leading to mutations, predominantly A: T->T: A transversions. In order to comprehensively understand the gene regulation programs in upper urothelial cancers we performed integrated miRNA and mRNA expression profiling of paired tumours and unaffected urothelium samples. The obtained data will help us to understand the carcinogenesis caused by aristolochic acid and might be the source for the design of a diagnostic biomarker.