Congratulations to the research group headed by Jeffrey Miner, PhD, on their recent publication that landed the cover of Kidney International. The colorful cover photograph, illustrating paraffin immunofluorescence of different collagen IV chains, is a figure from their article “Quantitative assessment of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) collagen IV α chains in paraffin sections from patients […]
The recently established Washington University Kidney O’Brien Center for Chronic Kidney Disease Research has its first publication. Haojia Wu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, WashU Nephrology, is first author of the article “High resolution spatial profiling of kidney injury and repair using RNA hybridization-based in situ sequencing,” published in Nature Communications (volume 15, article number: 1396, Feb […]
In their newly-published article in Nature Communications, a multi-center group led by Ying Maggie Chen, MD, PhD, WashU Division of Nephrology, describes previously unknown mechanisms of action of mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) and its therapeutic function, with regards to kidney disease. MANF is a secreted endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein that possesses cytoprotective properties. Their […]
According to the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN) transplant database, nearly 91,000 individuals are currently waiting for a kidney or kidney/pancreas transplant, with an average wait time in most clinics being 3-5 years. In addition, the annual mortality rate of those waiting for a kidney is about 5% and increases greatly in the older […]
WashU Nephrology fellow Zoey Levine, MD, and Professor of Medicine Anitha Vijayan, MD, FASN, discuss the option of prolonged intermittent kidney replacement therapy (PIKRT) in the management of patients with kidney failure in a review published in CJASN’s special series Critical Care Nephrology and Acute Kidney Injury (AKI). PIKRT is a hybrid form of […]
Albuminuria is the hallmark of nephrotic syndrome (NS), a leading cause of chronic kidney disease that affects 500 million people worldwide, but the molecular mechanism underlying albuminuria-induced kidney injury remains poorly defined. A recent study by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine have provided insight into a possible novel drug target to treat proteinuric […]
Research into cures for chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been severely hampered because of the difficulty in studying the highly specialized cells of the kidney, particularly the podocytes, outside their native microenvironment. However, a game-changing, novel culturing technique, developed through the collaboration of scientists from WashU Division of Nephrology and the McKelvey School of Engineering, […]
For almost 80 years, dialysis has been a lifesaving procedure for patients with kidney failure, yet problems such as low quality of life and the realization that patients will have to remain on dialysis for the rest of their lives have resulted in an increased interest in kidney transplantation. The number of available transplantable kidneys, […]
A new study by Leslie Gewin, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, WashU Nephrology, challenges the long-held assumption that renal tubular cell cycle progression is always beneficial in the context of renal injury. In their article, just published online in Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) Insight, Dr. Gewin and colleagues detail how slowing cell cycle progression […]
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a slowly progressive, neurodegenerative disease, is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The number of people with AMD is projected to increase from 196 million in 2020 to 288 million in 2040. While lifestyle factors, such as diet and smoking, are associated with the risk of advanced AMD, it is […]