Cystinosis is a rare disease, but we can make our voice heard and help our families to a better life.

Cystinosis Support Network Europe (CNE) is an umbrella grouping of patient support, advocacy and research organisations in Europe and beyond.  The group originally came together to provide informal peer support and to organise a family and research conference every two years in Europe.  In recent years the network has become more active and taken a leadership role in various contacts with researchers and members of the healthcare industry developing therapies and treatments for cystinosis.  In 2019 the group decided to formalise and establish itself as a registered charity.

What is Cystinosis?

Cystinosis is a rare, genetic disease, which is mostly diagnosed early in childhood, usually before the age of two. It is autosomal recessive, which means that it is inherited when a child receives two copies of an abnormal gene, one copy from each parent. Because the parents each have only one abnormal gene, they are not affected.

It is estimated that cystinosis occurs in somewhere between 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 200,000 live births. There are 10 to 15 new cases of cystinosis diagnosed each year in Europe.

For people with cystinosis, there is an increase in an amino acid called cystine in every cell of the body. This build up causes cystine crystals to form in many organs of the body. These crystals are noticed first in the kidneys and the eyes.  As the disease progresses complications can occur in muscles, pancreas, thyroid gland and in other parts of the body.

There is a specific treatment for Cystinosis, but there is no cure. Children with cystinosis are experiencing much better outcomes and many young adults are living happy and active lives. But we still have a long way to go until we get to a cure.

More detailed information has been developed by Cystinose Groep Nederland. This brochure was created as a collaborative effort between Dutch Cystinosis Group (member of VKS: Adults, Children and Metabolic Diseases), the Collaborative Association of Parent and Patient Organisations (VSOP) and the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG).

What We Do

Conference

The CNE hosts an an international conference every two years. The CNE hosts an international conference every two years.

The 2022 conference was held in Leuven, Belgium from 7-10 July. In 2020 we went virtual! You can see details here.

We are delighted that the 2024 conference will be hosted by our colleagues in the United Kingdom. You can find details on our conference page.

Community Advisory Board

Based on the EuroCAB principles developed by EURORDIS (the European Rare Disorders Organisation), CNE has developed a Community Advisory Board.  This allows our member organisations to interact in a structured and transparent way with treatment developers to ensure patients are consulted as patient investigators in the development of treatments and therapies that will have an impact on their lives.  You can find out more here.

Our ongoing work includes

Connecting

  • We are an all volunteer, non-profit organisation

  • We meet on a regular basis to exchange and discuss achievements and unsolved problems that have an impact on the whole community

  • We encourage new research projects

  • We connect patient groups and researcher networks

Supporting

  • We help families all over Europe to get contact with other families and clinics

  • We inform patients and parents the condition and what is going on in the “world of Cystinosis”

  • We support patients’ and researchers’ projects (e.g. the development of international guidelines for treating cystinosis

  • We are active in developing best practice guideline in the transition for teens and young adults from paediatric care settings

Who We Are

Our Members

CNE is delighted to have a member organisations from Europe and some further afield:

  • AIRG-España

Our Partners

  • Patients all over Europe living in countries not yet having a national cystinosis support group

  • EURORDIS – Rare diseases Europe

  • FEDERG – Fed. of Europ. Associations of patients affected by renal genetic diseases

  • European reference centers and competence centers for cystinosis

  • Health care providers and researchers in Europe and all over the world