PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New treatment for polycystic kidney disease

2015-06-03
(Press-News.org) Published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the treatment, which involves targeting tiny blood and lymphatic vessels inside the kidneys, is shown to improve renal function and slow progression of disease in mice.

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a genetic disorder where fluid filled cysts grow in kidneys and destroy normal renal tissue. It is the world's most common inherited kidney disease, affecting between 1 in 400 and 1 in 1000 people worldwide - around 12.5 million individuals. A rarer form of the disease, which occurs in about one in every 20,000 live births in the UK, leads to a third of these babies dying before or just after birth.

Treatment for the condition has traditionally targeted proteins which are thought to play a role in causing the condition and are located in hair-like structures and tissue that line the inside of cysts. These treatments can help alleviate some of the symptoms of PKD but they can't currently cure the condition.

Researchers have now discovered that the blood and lymphatic system surrounding cysts may also be important in the development of the condition and could be a new target for treating the disease.

By looking at mouse models of both the common and rarer form of the disease, the team noticed that tiny blood vessels surrounding the cysts were altered very early in cyst development. They therefore treated the mice with a potent 'growth factor' protein called VEGFC, and found that patterns of blood vessels normalised and the function of the kidneys improved. In the mice with the rare form of the condition, it also led to a modest but significant increase in lifespan.

David Long, lead researcher and Principal Research Associate at the ICH, explains: "With further testing, treatments that target blood vessels surrounding the kidney cysts, perhaps in combination with currently used drugs, may prove to be beneficial for patients with polycystic kidney disease."

Adrian Woolf, Professor of Paediatric Science at the University of Manchester and co-author of the study added: "If we could target these blood vessels early in the development of the condition it could potentially lead to much better outcomes for patients."

Elaine Davies, Research Director at Kidney Research UK confirmed that: "This is an exciting piece of work we are extremely proud to be supporting."

Dr Richard Trompeter, Chairman of Kids Kidney Research, said: "By identifying a treatment plan that can prevent further deterioration of kidney function in patients with this particular disease, our researchers have given fresh hope to thousands of people in the UK with this kidney condition. However, research like this can only continue with the support of the public."

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

In search of memory storage

2015-06-03
The hippocampus plays a crucial role in memory formation. However, it is not yet fully understood in what way that brain structure's individual regions are involved in the formation of memories. Neuroscientists at the Collaborative Research Center 874 at RUB have recreated this process with the aid of computer simulations. Their findings challenge the model of memory forming in the hippocampus established to date. Their results have been published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. Unique anatomy of the hippocampus The hippocampus' importance for memory forming ...

Study supports IDH gene as prognostic marker in anaplastic astrocytoma

2015-06-03
COLUMBUS, Ohio - New findings suggest that a gene called IDH1 might be prognostic marker for a rare form of brain cancer. Patients in this study who had a mutated IDH gene lived an average of 7.9 years after diagnosis versus 2.8 years for patients with unaltered IDH. The IDH study was done as part of the phase III clinical trial RTOG 9813, which involved 301 patients with anaplastic astrocytoma. The duel-arm trial evaluated the effectiveness of radiation therapy plus either of two chemotherapy drugs: temozolomide and nitrosourea. "We found that IDH status is not only ...

Re-inflating balloon after carotid stenting appears to double risk of stroke and death

2015-06-03
After reviewing outcomes from thousands of cases, researchers at Johns Hopkins report that patients with blocked neck arteries who undergo carotid stenting to prop open the narrowed blood vessels fare decidedly worse if their surgeons re-inflate a tiny balloon in the vessel after the mesh stent is in place. Although the overall risk of stroke and death is low in patients who undergo carotid stenting, the common practice of "ballooning" the vessel after the wire mesh is inserted can double the risk of death and stroke during or shortly after the procedure, according to ...

The Lancet: Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) Seminar

2015-06-03
Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) has recently returned to the headlines as new cases have been exported to Korea and China. Experts are concerned that MERS cases continued to be detected in Saudi Arabia throughout the past year, and there appears to be little reduction in the number of cases since its first discovery three years ago. As the month of Ramadan approaches, with 1 million pilgrims expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia in June and July 2015, MERS remains a threat to global health security. The Lancet today publishes a new Seminar on MERS, outlining the current ...

Intravenous nutrition source could reduce side effects of chemotherapy

2015-06-03
PITTSBURGH -- A single dose of an FDA-approved intravenous nutrition source may be able to significantly reduce the toxicity and increase the bioavailability of platinum-based cancer drugs, according to a study by Carnegie Mellon University biologists published in Scientific Reports. Platinum-based drugs, including cisplatin, carboplatin and oxyplatin, have been used to treat cancer for more than 35 years. While they remain among the most prescribed and most potent chemotherapy drugs, they also cause serious side effects, including kidney damage. Many of the side effects ...

Cooking up cognition

2015-06-03
These days, cooking dinner requires no more thought than turning a knob on a stovetop, but for early humans the notion that - simply by applying heat or fire - foods could be transformed into something both tastier and easier to digest demanded huge cognitive insight - insights often believed to be limited to humans. New evidence, however, suggests that, when it comes to cooking, humans may need to make more room at the table. A new study, co-authored by Felix Warneken, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, and Alexandra Rosati '05, currently ...

The early bird catches the sperm

2015-06-03
Getting up later in the morning might gain you more sleep, but it could mean you end up fathering fewer offspring--at least if you are a songbird called the great tit. Ecologists from the United States and Germany have discovered that compared with early birds, late risers are more likely to be cuckolded, meaning that they unknowingly end up raising young in their nest that had been fathered by another male. It appears that in the early morning hours, they're still asleep rather than being awake and defending their mate. The study, published in the British Ecological ...

One's ability to identify different smells may impact longevity

2015-06-03
In a recent study of older adults, those with a reduced ability to identify certain odors had an increased risk of dying during an average follow-up of 4 years. The mortality rate was 45% in participants with the lowest scores on a 40-item smell test, compared with 18% of participants with the highest scores. The study included 1169 Medicare beneficiaries who scratched and sniffed individuals odorant strips and chose the best answer from 4 items listed as multiple-choice. "The increased risk of death increased progressively with worse performance in the smell identification ...

Cat got your tongue? New research says 'no'

2015-06-03
Cat taste receptors respond in a unique way to bitter compounds compared with human receptors, according to research published in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience. The study represents the first glimpse into how domestic cats perceive bitterness in food at a molecular level, and could explain why cats are sometimes such picky eaters. The ability to detect bitter chemicals is thought to have evolved because of its utility in avoiding toxic compounds often found in plants. All cats, from pets to wild tigers, are carnivores that consume little plant material. Domestic ...

Endurance athletes should be tested while exercising for potentially fatal heart condition

2015-06-03
Some athletes who take part in endurance exercise such as marathon running, endurance triathlons or alpine cycling can develop irregularities in their heartbeats that can, occasionally, lead to their sudden death. Now, new evidence published in the European Heart Journal [1] today (Wednesday) has shown that doctors who try to detect these heartbeat irregularities (known as arrhythmias) by focusing on the left ventricle of the heart, or on the right ventricle while an athlete is resting, will miss important signs of right ventricular dysfunction that can only be detected ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

Healthy nutrition and physical lifestyle choices lower cancer mortality risk for survivors, new ACS study finds

[Press-News.org] New treatment for polycystic kidney disease