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

• 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]


• 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]


• SGLT2-inhibitors, hemodynamics, and kidney protection.
  Ellison DH. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2021 Mar 22. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00092.2021. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33749325 No abstract available. [Article]


• Roles of WNK4 and SPAK in K+ mediated dephosphorylation of the sodium chloride cotransporter.
  Mukherjee A, Yang CL, McCormick JA, Martz K, Sharma A, Ellison DH. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2021 Mar 15. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00459.2020. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33719576 [Article]


• Distal convoluted tubule Cl- concentration is modulated via K+ channels and transporters.
  Su XT, Klett NJ, Sharma A, Allen CN, Wang WH, Yang CL, Ellison DH. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2020 Sep 1;319(3):F534-F540. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00284.2020. Epub 2020 Jul 27. PMID: 32715757 [Article]


• A novel distal convoluted tubule-specific Cre-recombinase driven by the NaCl cotransporter gene.
  Cornelius RJ, Sharma A, Su XT, Guo JJ, McMahon JA, Ellison DH, McMahon AP, McCormick JA. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2020 Sep 1;319(3):F423-F435. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00101.2020. Epub 2020 Jul 13. PMID: 32657158 [Article]


• Effect of Angiotensin II on ENaC in the Distal Convoluted Tubule and in the Cortical Collecting Duct of Mineralocorticoid Receptor Deficient Mice.
  Wu P, Gao ZX, Zhang DD, Duan XP, Terker AS, Lin DH, Ellison DH, Wang WH. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020 Apr 7;9(7):e014996. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.119.014996. Epub 2020 Mar 25. PMID: 32208832 Free PMC article. [Article]


• Potassium homeostasis and management of dyskalemia in kidney diseases: conclusions from a Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Controversies Conference
  Clase CM, Carrero JJ, Ellison DH, Grams ME, Hemmelgarn BR, Jardine MJ, Kovesdy CP, Kline GA, Lindner G, Obrador GT, Palmer BF, Cheung M, Wheeler DC, Winkelmayer WC, Pecoits-Filho R; Conference Participants. Kidney Int. 2020 Jan;97(1):42-61. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2019.09.018. Epub 2019 Oct 10. [Article]