Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The demand for kidney transplants is far from met by human donors — a problem that may be solved by the clinical translation of porcine kidney xenotransplantation. A new paper describes the development of genetically ‘humanized’ pigs, the kidneys of which kept nephrectomized cynomolgus macaques alive for up to 2 years.
New clinical studies suggest that mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy can have positive clinical effects, potentially via immunomodulation, in patients with diabetic nephropathy or nephrotic syndrome. These trials suggest that the therapy is safe, but adverse reactions highlight the need to examine the source and functional attributes of MSCs closely.
A recent study reports that adenosine A2A receptor-mediated lymphangiogenesis increases lymphatic clearance of excess Na+ from the skin and reduces blood pressure, whereas impairment of this process leads to salt-sensitive hypertension. These findings raise intriguing physiological questions regarding the relationships among sodium, water and blood pressure.
Racial and ethnic minoritized populations are underrepresented in clinical trials in nephrology, but overrepresented in adverse kidney disease outcomes. Targeted enrolment, revision of problematic policies, inclusion of minoritized populations in trial planning, and language-, race- and ethnicity-concordant investigative teams can improve representation in clinical trials.
In a ground-breaking development, rat kidneys have been cryopreserved for an unprecedented duration of 100 days and subsequently transplanted successfully after nano-rewarming. This extraordinary achievement opens new possibilities for the field of organ banking.
Kidney failure is a serious but rare consequence of progressive chronic kidney disease. A meta-analysis of individual participant-level trial data, across heterogeneous treatments and disease groups, has shown glomerular filtration rate (GFR) slope to be a valid, fit-for-purpose and robust surrogate marker of kidney failure.
Human ageing trajectories are highly individual and dependent on genetic and non-genetic factors. An analysis of the interconnectivity of distinct age-related chronic diseases shows that organ-specific chronic diseases accelerate the ageing of other organ systems, which has important implications for mortality. Notably, chronic kidney disease was identified a highly important risk factor for the ageing of other organ systems.
APOL1 risk variants are associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease. Findings from a new study demonstrate that a small molecule, inaxaplin, inhibits APOL1 channel function; furthermore, inaxaplin reduced proteinuria in patients with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and two APOL1 risk variants.
Two studies have applied a mechanical stimulus directly to a cilium, independent of a chemical signal, and demonstrated that force-based bending of a single nodal axoneme is sufficient to induce intraciliary Ca2+ flux in a PKD2-dependent manner, which propagates to drive asymmetric gene expression.
An estimated 10–15% of individuals with hypertension are resistant to available antihypertensive therapies. Findings from two new clinical trials — BrigHTN and PRECISION — that assessed the blood pressure-lowering effects of the aldosterone synthase inhibitor baxdrostat and the dual endothelin receptor antagonist aprocitentan, respectively, suggest these approaches hold promise for patients with treatment-resistant hypertension.
