Volume 12 Issue 10, October 2016

Blood pressure lowering slows the progression of diabetic nephropathy whereas the effects of glycaemic control are smaller and slower. New findings from the EMA-REG OUTCOME investigators indicate that SGLT2 inhibition slows the progression of kidney disease by lowering glucose and blood pressure, thereby lowering the risk of adverse renal outcomes in this patient group.

Nephron number varies widely in healthy adults. The extent to which this variation is due to differences in nephron endowment at birth and/or nephron loss with ageing is unclear. A recent study used a novel approach to identify a previously unappreciated high loss of nephrons with ageing in healthy kidneys.

The mTOR pathway has a role in the development of renal disease, kidney transplant rejection and malignancies. Here, the authors discuss the mechanisms by which mTOR complexes drive the pathogenesis of these diseases as well as the therapeutic potential of mTOR inhibitors.

Heart failure and kidney disease share a number of pathophysiological pathways. Here, Stefan Anker and colleagues discuss crosstalk between the heart and the kidneys, the epidemiology of heart failure and kidney dysfunction, and the treatment of cardio-renal syndromes.

Human renal tissues can now be generated from human pluripotent stem cells in vitro. Here, Melissa Little and colleagues explore how improved understanding of renal development has guided differentiation protocols to generate kidney cellsin vitroand discuss the potential applications for these cells in nephrology.

The diagnosis and management of hypertension among patients on chronic dialysis represents a major challenge. In this Review, Georgianos and Agarwal discuss the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of hypertension in patients on dialysis on the basis of currently available evidence from randomized and observational studies.