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Nature Medicine 12, 996 - 997 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nm0906-996

Hypoxia pathway linked to kidney failure

Gregg L Semenza1

  1. The author is in the Vascular Biology Program, Institute for Cell Engineering; Departments of Medicine, Oncology, Pediatrics and Radiation Oncology; and McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine; The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. e-mail: gsemenza@jhmi.edu


A mechanism that may underlie a form of human kidney failure has been delineated in knockout mice. Activation of the oxygen-regulated transcription factor Hif1 and its target gene Cxcr4 leads to increased cell proliferation that interferes with the function of the glomerulus (pages 1071–1077).


Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) is a life-threatening disease in which affected individuals lose kidney function over a period of days to weeks. Timely diagnosis is critical in order to institute appropriate therapy and minimize irreversible kidney damage.

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