An epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology has emerged in Central America and resulted in the highest rates of end-stage renal disease worldwide. New findings from the first renal biopsy study of patients with Mesoamerican nephropathy should help medical detectives to 'crack' the cause of this disease.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Dehydration-associated chronic kidney disease: a novel case of kidney failure in China
BMC Nephrology Open Access 04 May 2020
-
Dialysis enrollment patterns in Guatemala: evidence of the chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes epidemic in Mesoamerica
BMC Nephrology Open Access 14 April 2015
-
Additional perspectives on chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka – lessons learned from the WHO CKDu population prevalence study
BMC Nephrology Open Access 28 July 2014
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Wesseling, C. et al. (Eds) Mesoamerican nephropathy: report from the First International Research Workshop on MeN. (Central American Program for Work, Environment and Health, 2013).
Torres, C. et al. Decreased kidney function of unknown cause in Nicaragua: a community-based survey. Am. J. Kidney Dis. 55, 485–496 (2010).
Peraza, S. et al. Decreased kidney function among agricultural workers in El Salvador. Am. J. Kidney Dis. 59, 531–540 (2012).
O'Donnell, J. K. et al. Prevalence of and risk factors for chronic kidney disease in rural Nicaragua. Nephrol. Dial. Transplant. 26, 2798–2805 (2011).
Wijkström, J. et al. Clinical and pathological characterization of Mesoamerican nephropathy: a new kidney disease in Central America. Am. J. Kidney Dis. http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2013.05.019.
Cirillo, P. et al. Ketohexokinase-dependent metabolism of fructose induces proinflammatory mediators in proximal tubular cells. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 20, 545–553 (2009).
Nakayama, T. et al. Dietary fructose causes tubulointerstitial injury in the normal rat kidney. Am. J. Physiol. Renal Physiol. 298, F712–F720 (2010).
Grgic, I. et al. Targeted proximal tubule injury triggers interstitial fibrosis and glomerulosclerosis. Kidney Int. 82, 172–183 (2012).
Ren, Y., D'Ambrosio, M. A., Garvin, J. L., Wang, H. & Carretero, O. A. Possible mediators of connecting tubule glomerular feedback. Hypertension 53, 319–323 (2009).
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Ricardo Correa-Rotter for his valuable suggestions relating to this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, R., Sánchez-Lozada, L. Mesoamerican nephropathy—new clues to the cause. Nat Rev Nephrol 9, 560–561 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2013.174
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2013.174
This article is cited by
-
Sustainable Development Goals relevant to kidney health: an update on progress
Nature Reviews Nephrology (2021)
-
Dehydration-associated chronic kidney disease: a novel case of kidney failure in China
BMC Nephrology (2020)
-
Dialysis enrollment patterns in Guatemala: evidence of the chronic kidney disease of non-traditional causes epidemic in Mesoamerica
BMC Nephrology (2015)
-
Burnt sugarcane harvesting is associated with acute renal dysfunction
Kidney International (2015)
-
Additional perspectives on chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka – lessons learned from the WHO CKDu population prevalence study
BMC Nephrology (2014)
