David H. Ellison, M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Physiology & Pharmacology, Director of the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute, and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Research at Oregon Health & Science University. Prior to assuming these roles, he was Head of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension for 13 years, and he remains active clinically. He is also a Staff Physician at the Portland VA Medical Center. Dr. Ellison’s research focus during the last 25 years has been the mechanisms of salt and potassium transport along the renal distal tubule, with particular interest in the thiazide-sensitive NaCl cotransporter (NCC). His early studies identified this transporter as dominant in the early distal tubule, and his work contributed to the recognition that NCC mutations cause Gitelman syndrome.  More recently, he has helped unravel mechanisms underlying the monogenic disease Familial Hyperkalemic Hypertension. This has led him to identify that the distal nephron acts as a potassium switch, through the actions of WNK/SPAK signaling. His work has been instrumental in showing that plasma potassium is a dominant regulator of NCC function, and postulating that this effect results from activation of basolateral potassium channels, leading to cellular polarization and WNK.SPAK activation. His group has translated these findings to humans, and postulated that these mechanisms may explain the blood pressure lowering effects of dietary potassium loading.

Publications

• Randomized Trial on the Effect of Oral Potassium Chloride Supplementation on the Thiazide-Sensitive Sodium Chloride Cotransporter in Healthy Adults.
  Wu A, Wolley MJ, Mayr HL, Cheng L, Cowley D, Li B, Campbell KL, Terker AS, Ellison DH, Welling PA, Fenton RA, Stowasser M Kidney Int Rep. 2023 Mar 27;8(6):1201-1212. doi: 10.1016/j.ekir.2023.03.011. PMID: 37284683; PMCID: PMC10239795. [Article]


• Glucose/Fructose Delivery to the Distal Nephron Activates the Sodium-Chloride Cotransporter via the Calcium-Sensing Receptor.
  Bahena-Lopez JP, Rojas-Vega L, Chávez-Canales M, Bazua-Valenti S, Bautista-Pérez R, Lee JH, Madero M, Vazquez-Manjarrez N, Alquisiras-Burgos I, Hernandez-Cruz A, Castañeda-Bueno M, Ellison DH, Gamba G.

  J Am Soc Nephrol. 2023 Jan 1;34(1):55-72. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2021121544. Epub 2022 Oct 26. PMID: 36288902; PMCID: PMC10101570.

  [Article]


• Blood pressure effects of sodium transport along the distal nephron.
  Castañeda-Bueno M, Ellison DH. Kidney Int. 2022 Dec;102(6):1247-1258. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2022.09.009. Epub 2022 Oct 10. PMID: 36228680; PMCID: PMC9754644. [Article]


• Multiple molecular mechanisms are involved in the activation of the kidney sodium-chloride cotransporter by hypokalemia.
  Murillo-de-Ozores AR, Carbajal-Contreras H, Magaña-Ávila GR, Valdés R, Grajeda-Medina LI, Vázquez N, Zariñán T, López-Saavedra A, Sharma A, Lin DH, Wang WH, Delpire E, Ellison DH, Gamba G, Castañeda-Bueno M. Kidney Int. 2022 Nov;102(5):1030-1041. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2022.06.027. Epub 2022 Jul 21. PMID: 35870644; PMCID: PMC10411384. [Article]


• COP9 signalosome deletion promotes renal injury and distal convoluted tubule remodeling.
  Cornelius RJ, Nelson JW, Su XT, Yang CL, Ellison DH. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2022 Jul 1;323(1):F4-F19. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00436.2021. Epub 2022 May 9. PMID: 35532068; PMCID: PMC9236871. [Article]


• Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists Cause Natriuresis in the Absence of Aldosterone’ in press in Hypertension (AHA)
  Yujiro Maeoka ¹, Xiao-Tong Su ¹, Wen-Hui Wang ², Xin-Peng Duan ², Avika Sharma ¹, Na Li ³, Olivier Staub ^3 4, James A McCormick ¹, David H Ellison ^1 4 5
  • PMID: 35506380
  • DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.122.19159
  [Article]


• Combined Kelch-like 3 and Cullin 3 Degradation is a Central Mechanism in Familial Hyperkalemic Hypertension in Mice
  Maeoka Y, Ferdaus MZ, Cornelius RJ, Sharma A, Su XT, Miller LN, Robertson JA, Gurley SB, Yang CL, Ellison DH, McCormick JA. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2022 Mar;33(3):584-600. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2021081099. Epub 2022 Jan 21.PMID: 35064051 [Article]


• Potassium Effects on NCC Are Attenuated during Inhibition of Cullin E3-Ubiquitin Ligases.
  Murali SK, Little R, Poulsen SB, Ferdaus MZ, Ellison DH, McCormick JA, Fenton RA Cells. 2021 Dec 29;11(1):95. doi: 10.3390/cells11010095. PMID: 35011657; PMCID: PMC8750104. [Article]


• Insights into Salt Handling and Blood Pressure.
  Ellison DH, Welling P.N Engl J Med. 2021 Nov 18;385(21):1981-1993. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra2030212.PMID: 34788509 Review. No abstract available. [Article]


• Compensatory post-diuretic renal sodium reabsorption is not a dominant mechanism of diuretic resistance in acute heart failure
  Cox ZL, Rao VS, Ivey-Miranda JB, Moreno-Villagomez J, Mahoney D, Ponikowski P, Biegus J, Turner JM, Maulion C, Bellumkonda L, Asher JL, Parise H, Wilson PF, Ellison DH, Wilcox CS, Testani JM.Eur Heart J. 2021 Sep 16:ehab620. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehab620. Online ahead of print.PMID: 34529781 [Article]