[3] Otto further found that nephrocystin, inversin (INVS) and nephroretinin colocalize in the primary cilia of cultured renal epithelia cells.

Our studies emphasize the central role of ciliary dysfunction in the pathogenesis of renal-retinal Senior Loken Syndrome."

In other words, there is a common link between certain kidney diseases and some forms of RP and it is through the something related to a problem in the cilia cells.

[citation needed] The syndrome was originally characterized during 1970 by Mainzer,[4] et al., in a paper published in the American Journal of Medicine.

The children had chronic kidney failure and the epiphyses of their fingers were cone-shaped and protruded into the metaphysis; some also had retinitis pigmentosa (also called RP, a progressive degeneration of the retina which affects night vision and peripheral vision) or ataxia (an inability to coordinate muscular movements).