• While safe and well-tolerated, angiotensin II blockade did not lessen tissue scarring or prevent kidney failure in kidney transplant recipients. Angiotensin II blockade is known to slow kidney disease progression in individuals without transplants.
A team of scientists has developed a playbook for ending the devastating impact of fibrotic diseases of the liver, lung, kidney, and other organs, which are responsible for as many as 45 percent of all deaths in the industrialized world.
• Retention of certain compounds that are normally excreted by the kidneys may cause insulin resistance, or prediabetes, in kidney disease patients. • When mice with kidney disease were treated with a prebiotic that reduces blood levels of these compounds, insulin resistance and lipid abnormalities were prevented.
• Six months of steroid treatment in children with nephrotic syndrome did not reduce relapse rates or side effects compared with three months of treatment. • Because many children with nephrotic syndrome face frequent relapses, future research should focus on preventing relapses through new treatment strategies. Nephrotic syndrome has an estimated incidence of two to seven cases per 100,000 children and a prevalence of nearly 16 cases per 100,000.
• Blocking the receptor for endothelin lowers novel cardiovascular risk factors in patients with chronic kidney disease independent of blood pressure. • The findings suggest that blocking the receptor may provide heart-related benefits to these patients. 60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease.
• In a study of African Americans with kidney disease, levels of mineral metabolites rose over time; those with faster rates of kidney function decline had the greatest increases in metabolites. • Higher baseline levels of metabolites were linked with an increased risk for kidney failure or death independent of kidney function. Disordered mineral metabolism is more severe in African Americans with chronic kidney disease, which might partially explain why their disease progresses more rapidly to kidney failure.
Severe acute kidney injuries are becoming more common in the United States, rising 10 percent per year and doubling over the last decade, according to a retrospective study at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Kidney disease is on the rise across the global, and it’s becoming common among veterans considering their older age and rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Is the Department of Veterans Affairs prepared to handle their potential need for dialysis and kidney transplants and can anything be done to prevent a rise in kidney failure? The University of Michigan will create a National Kidney Disease Registry for the Department of Veterans Affairs to monitor kidney disease among America’s veterans.
• Among individuals with chronic kidney disease, African Americans experience faster progression of the disease during later stages compared with other races. • Screening of African Americans with chronic kidney disease can help improve care and is cost-effective. Chronic kidney disease affects an estimated 26 million adults in the United States.
• For kidney failure patients with blocked arteries surrounding the heart, open heart surgery is linked with a lower risk of dying or having a heart attack compared with angioplasty. • Among patients undergoing these revascularization procedures, the five-year survival of patients without kidney disease is over 90%, but survival in kidney failure patients is dismal.
The greater a person’s decrease in renal functioning, the greater the decrease in their overall cognitive functioning, particularly abstract reasoning and verbal memory, according to a new study led by Temple University.
Genetic changes that protected their ancestors against fly-borne parasites may partly explain why African-Americans with lupus are up to five times more likely to develop end-stage kidney disease than those of European descent.
• Kidney specialists do not routinely receive formal education on how to talk with patients about end-of-life and other serious issues. • A new workshop helps nephrology fellows be prepared to deliver bad news, express empathy, and discuss dialysis initiation and withdrawal.
• Most patients with a leading cause of kidney failure, have high levels of suPAR circulating in their blood. • suPAR levels could help doctors monitor the disease’s progression as well as patients’ response to different therapies. • suPAR might be a therapeutic target of future treatments.
A drug therapy shows promise for treating an inherited form of kidney disease called autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), Mayo Clinic researchers say.
• Some kidney donors have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure after donation. • Individuals with prediabetes can safely donate kidneys without increasing their risk of developing diabetes or kidney failure. • Among children with advanced kidney disease, blacks and Hispanics are less likely than whites to receive optimal care.
• Adding fruits and vegetables to the diet improves kidney disease patients’ health. • Poor nutrition plays a role in the link between poverty and kidney disease. • Among kidney disease patients, Blacks are more likely to have uncontrolled blood pressure than Whites
ASN President highlights necessary steps as he opens ASN’s annual meeting. (Media can request full text of speech, under embargo).
A study published in the journal PLOS ONE found that having chronic lung, kidney or heart disease more than doubles a patient's risk of future sepsis. Worse yet, the risks are additive.
• From suspensions of single kidney cells, researchers have constructed “organoids” that can carry out kidney functions when implanted into a living animal. • The advance marks a considerable step toward the goal of engineering kidney tissues suitable for transplantation. Tissue engineering of kidneys could help alleviate the shortage of kidneys for transplantation.
• A drug that activates the liver x receptor blocks expression of an inflammatory molecule involved in diabetic nephropathy, the leading cause of kidney failure. • The drug improves kidney health and function in diabetic mice. • Such a drug might help protect the health of diabetic patients’ kidneys. About 20%-30% of patients with diabetes develop evidence of diabetic nephropathy.
• In the largest study of its kind, a variant within the multidrug resistance 1 (MDR-1) gene in kidney transplant donors was linked to a 69% increased risk for long-term failure of transplanted organs. • This variant affects the expression of the protein that the MDR-1 gene encodes, which pumps drugs out of cells. (Immunosuppressant drugs are critical for preventing organ rejection but are also toxic to the kidneys.)
The high rate of non-diabetic kidney disease in African-Americans is strongly associated with variations in a particular gene. Yet, not everyone who inherits these variations develops the disease.
• Home hemodialysis could allow patients to enjoy increased freedom, quality of life, greater ability to travel, and tangible health improvements. • Increased physician and patient education can eliminate barriers to home hemodialysis and increase its use. Approximately 2 million patients in the world receive some sort of dialysis treatment.
• ASN and FDA announce a new partnership—the Kidney Health Initiative (KHI)—to improve patient safety and promote development of new therapies for patients with kidney disease. • Up to 26 million Americans have kidney disease, and African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans face up to a four-fold risk. • Kidney disease is the 8th leading cause of death in America.
New research finds the presence of chronic kidney disease itself can be a strong indicator of the risk of death and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) even in patients without hypertension or diabetes
A federally funded study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has found that children with mild to moderate kidney disease have abnormally thick neck arteries, a condition known as carotid atherosclerosis, usually seen in older adults with a long history of elevated cholesterol and untreated hypertension.
A compound found in purple corn, a relative of the widely known blue corn, may help in developing therapies aimed at Type 2 diabetes and kidney disease.
• Kidney disease patients and their physicians should question and discuss certain medical tests and procedures, taking into consideration patients’ preferences, needs, and health goals. • Doing so can improve care and reduce costs. An estimated 30% of care in America goes to unnecessary tests and procedures.
• Blood tests of particular autoantibodies can accurately diagnose the autoimmune kidney disease called idiopathic membranous nephropathy. • Patients with high levels of these autoantibodies tend to have more severe disease, while those with low levels often experience remission. Each year, an estimated 50,000 people globally are diagnosed with idiopathic membranous nephropathy.
• Many patients with a common kidney disease who had normal kidney function and only minor urinary abnormalities at diagnosis experienced remission without special treatments. • None developed kidney failure over a 20-year follow-up.
• The blood levels of certain abnormal proteins and the antibodies that attack them rise according to the severity of one of the most common diseases of the kidney. • The findings may help in the diagnosis and management of the disease, called IgA nephropathy. IgA nephropathy can lead to high blood pressure, swelling and, in some cases, kidney failure.
• Approximately 1 in 40 men and 1 in 60 women of middle age will develop kidney failure if they live into their 90s. • People with reduced kidney function face an even higher risk. Kidney failure is on the rise and currently afflicts 2 million people worldwide.
• Patients with a particular kidney immune disorder experienced remission when taking the immune drug rituximab, even when standard therapies had failed. • Rituximab was safe and well-tolerated by all patients in the study. Each year, an estimated 70,000 people globally are diagnosed with the disorder, called idiopathic membranous nephropathy.
• Phosphate binders, drugs commonly prescribed to patients with chronic kidney disease, may not be as effective as previously thought. • Phosphate binders may have negative effects on cardiovascular health. • Additional studies are needed on the safety and effectiveness of these drugs. 60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease.
Calcium and vitamin D supplements are associated with high calcium levels in the blood and urine, which could increase the risk of kidney stones, a new study finds. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.
Severely obese patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) saw significant improvements in kidney function within one year of bariatric surgery, according to a new study*
In a study that included nearly 2 millions adults in Canada, the rate of progression to untreated kidney failure was considerably higher among older adults, compared to younger individuals, according to a study in the June 20 issue of JAMA.
• Homeless kidney disease patients suffer from much higher rates of depression and substance abuse and are more likely to develop kidney failure and die prematurely than impoverished patients with stable housing. • Homeless kidney disease patients are also far more likely to use costly emergency medical services.
Doctors are looking at more than age when it comes to giving someone a new kidney.
• An infection called peritonitis commonly arises in the weeks before many patients on peritoneal dialysis die. • More studies are needed to determine whether peritonitis causes premature death in dialysis patients. 10% to 20% of dialysis patients receive peritoneal dialysis.
Loyola University Medical Center researchers are reporting one of the first studies to examine how patients and families are soliciting living kidney donors on Facebook.
One type of open heart surgery is safer than the other—in terms of both health and survival—for chronic kidney disease patients. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in individuals with chronic kidney disease.
• A minimally invasive procedure called renal denervation, which disrupts certain nerves in the kidneys, lowers blood pressure in patients with chronic kidney disease and hypertension. • The procedure may help protect the kidneys and reduce heart risks in patients with chronic kidney disease.
The constant health education that dialysis patients receive can lead to boredom and noncompliance. But a Loyola University Medical Center study has found that brief, casual chats can be a significant benefit to patients.
Henry Ford Hospital researchers have found that the presence of excess protein in a common urine test is an effective prognostic marker of acute renal failure in patients with severe sepsis. Researchers analyzed data from 328 sepsis patients with no previous history of protein in the urine and found the urine dipstick test predicted the presence of renal failure in 55 percent of these patients.
Highlights • Children with a particular kidney immune disorder that is unresponsive to standard treatments do not benefit from the immune drug rituximab. • Additional studies are needed to fully understand the disease and to develop effective therapies for hard-to-treat cases.
Assessing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using kidney filtration markers in blood is the standard means for determining kidney function, diagnosing kidney disease and measuring its progression. A new study suggests that the CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR is a better predicator of risk for kidney disease and death compared to the most widely used method. The CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR could focus efforts more efficiently, and improve assessment of patient future risk and treatment of kidney disease.
In a study that included data from more than 1 million adults, use of a newer risk prediction equation classified fewer individuals as having chronic kidney disease and more accurately categorized the risk for death and end-stage renal disease, according to a study in the May 9 issue of JAMA.
New predictor for more accurately measuring the progress of kidney disease.
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