Translational kidney research

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy, whilst treating tumours, can also lead to numerous adverse reactions such as nausea and vomiting, fatigue and kidney toxicity, threatening the physical and mental health of patients. Simultaneously, misuse of chemotherapeutic drugs can seriously endanger patients' lives. Therefore, to maintain the safety of chemotherapy for cancer patients and to reduce the incidence of adverse reactions to chemotherapy, many guidelines state that a comprehensive assessment of the cancer patient should be conducted and documented before chemotherapy...

Peptide drug discovery for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) has attracted much attention in recent years due to the urge to find novel drugs and mechanisms to delay the progression of the disease. In this study, we identified a novel short peptide (named YR-7, primary sequence 'YEVEDYR') from the natural Fibroin protein, and demonstrated that it significantly alleviated pathological renal changes in ADR-induced nephropathy. PANX1 was identified as the most notably upregulated component by RNA-sequencing...

The management of diabetes mellitus and its resultant end organ dysfunction represents a major challenge to global health-care systems. Diabetic cardiac and kidney disease commonly co-occur and are significant contributors to the morbidity and mortality of patients with diabetes, carrying a poor prognosis. The tight link of these parallel end organ manifestations suggests a deeper common underlying pathology. Here, we outline the mechanistic link between diabetic cardiac and kidney disease, providing evidence for the role of endothelial dysfunction in both processes and the potential for cellular therapy to correct these disorders...

Amino acids are essential for normal pregnancy and fetal development. Disruptions in maternal amino acid metabolism have been associated with various adult diseases later in life, a phenomenon referred to as the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). In this review, we examine the recent evidence highlighting the significant impact of amino acids on fetal programming, their influence on the modulation of gut microbiota, and their repercussions on offspring outcomes, particularly in the context of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome...

In transplantation, hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) has been shown to be superior to static cold storage (SCS) in terms of functional outcomes. Ex vivo machine perfusion offers the possibility to deliver drugs or other active substances, such as Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), directly into an organ without affecting the recipient. MSCs are multipotent, self-renewing cells with tissue-repair capacities, and their application to ameliorate ischemia- reperfusion injury (IRI) is being investigated in several preclinical and clinical studies...

Renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is often associated with inflammatory cell infiltration and no effective therapy. Programmed death cell-1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1 were playing critical roles in T cell coinhibition and exhaustion, but the role in RIF is unclear. Here the data analyses of serum from 122 IgA nephrology (IgAN) patients showed that high level of soluble PD-1(sPD-1) was an independent risk factor for RIF and renal function progression. PD-L1 was also overexpressed in renal interstitial tissues from both IgAN patients with high level of sPD-1 and the unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) mouse...

BACKGROUND: Nephrolithiasis seriously affects people's health with increasing prevalence and high recurrence rates. However, there is still a lack of effective interventions for the clinical prevention of kidney stones. Hyperoxaluria-induced renal tubular epithelial cell (TEC) injury is a known key factor in kidney stone formation. Thus, developing new drugs to inhibit the hyperoxaluria-induced TEC injury may be the best way. METHODS: We synthesized the Se@SiO2 nanocomposites as described in Zhu's study...

BACKGROUND: Lactate metabolism-related (LMR) long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play significant roles in various cancers, but their impact on kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the value of LMR lncRNA and develop a risk model for KIRC. METHODS: Data on KIRC patients were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. LMR lncRNAs were identified by co-expression, univariate and multivariate analyses, and least absolute shrinkage selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis...

Despite advances in treatment strategies, colorectal cancer (CRC) continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality, with mounting evidence a close link between immune system dysfunctions issued. Interleukin-2 receptor gamma (IL-2RG) plays a pivotal role as a common subunit receptor in the IL-2 family cytokines and activates the JAK-STAT pathway. This study delves into the role of Interleukin-2 receptor gamma (IL-2RG) within the tumor microenvironment and investigates potential microRNAs (miRNAs) that directly inhibit IL-2RG, aiming to discern their impact on CRC clinical outcomes...

Introduction Acute kidney injury (AKI) develops in 20-70% of patients with COVID-19. AKI is a syndromic diagnosis with multiple causes and outcomes. This cross-sectional study explored different outcomes of AKI in patients admitted with COVID-19. Material and methods It was a cross-sectional and descriptive study carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Western Maharashtra for two months (May to June 2020). We collected clinical and laboratory data of 456 inpatients admitted with COVID-19 over two consecutive months...

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the clinical efficacy and short-term prognosis of using flexible cystoscopy with percutaneous nephrolithotomy to treat complex renal stones. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with complex kidney stones treated at Gansu Provincial Hospital of TCM and Lanzhou City No. 2 People's Hospital from July 2019 to July 2022. The study divided the patients into a control group (n=95), who underwent percutaneous nephrolithotomy alone, and an observation group (n=109), who received additional holmium laser lithotripsy and cystoscopy...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of retinol binding protein (RBP), C-reactive protein (CRP) and urine microalbumin (UMA) for ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICD) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: In this study, a total of 118 patients with CKD were selected and grouped into two groups: a group of patients who were complicated with ICD (CKD+ICD group, n=58), and a group of patients with CKD only (CKD group, n=60). Then, the patients in the CKD+ICD group were further classified into a good prognosis group and a bad prognosis group according their modified Rankin scale score at sixth months after discharge...

BACKGROUND: To assess the utility of urinary neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (uNGAL) in the diagnosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) in the context of sepsis. METHODS: In this retrospective study, a total of 142 patients with sepsis treated in the Third Hospital of Shanxi Medical University from January 2019 to January 2021 were included. Patients diagnosed with AKI complicated with sepsis were categorized into the AKI group (n=70 cases), and patients diagnosed with sepsis were classified into the non-AKI group (n=72 cases)...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the predictive utility of serum myoglobin (Mb) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) for acute kidney injury (AKI) secondary to rhabdomyolysis (RM) in severe heatstroke patients. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 58 RM patients with severe heatstroke at Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital from June 2019 to May 2022 was conducted. Patients were categorized into AKI and non-AKI groups. Laboratory indices were compared, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the predictive value of serum biomarkers for AKI...

BACKGROUND: Caroli syndrome or Caroli disease is characterized by focal dilation of the intrahepatic bile ducts, with or without congenital liver fibrosis. Mutations in the WDR19 gene can result in nephropathy, an autosomal recessive cystic kidney disease. However, this genetic mutation is clinically associated with Caroli syndrome or disease. We hypothesize that WDR19 gene mutations may contribute to extrarenal phenotypes such as Caroli disease or syndrome. CASE DESCRIPTION: The outpatient department received a 1-year-old male patient with persistent dilated bile ducts for over four months...

The engineered clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) system is currently widely applied in genetic editing and transcriptional regulation. The catalytically inactivated CasRx (dCasRx) has the ability to selectively focus on the mRNA coding region without disrupting transcription and translation, opening up new avenues for research on RNA modification and protein translation control. This research utilized dCasRx to create a translation-enhancement system for mammals called dCasRx-eIF4GI, which combined eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4G (eIF4GI) to boost translation levels of the target gene by recruiting ribosomes, without affecting mRNA levels, ultimately increasing translation levels of different endogenous proteins...

Near-infrared-II (NIR-II) fluorescence imaging is pivotal in biomedical research. Organic probes exhibit high potential in clinical translation, due to advantages such as precise structure design, low toxicity, and post-modifications convenience. In related preparation, enhancement of NIR-II tail emission from NIR-I dyes is an efficient method. In particular, the promotion of twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) of relevant NIR-I dyes is a convenient protocol. However, present TICT-type probes still show disadvantages in relatively low emission, large particle sizes, or limited choice of NIR-I dyes, etc...

INTRODUCTION: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) induce acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) in 2-5% of patients, with a clearly higher incidence when they are combined with platinum derivatives. Unfortunately, suitable disease models and non-invasive biomarkers are lacking. To fill this gap in our understanding, we investigated the renal effects of cisplatin and anti-PD-L1 antibodies in mice, assessing PD-1 renal expression and cytokine levels in mice with AIN, and then we compared these findings with those in AIN-diagnosed cancer patients...

Use of animal models in preclinical transplant research is essential to the optimization of human allografts for clinical transplantation. Animal models of organ donation and preservation help to advance and improve technical elements of solid organ recovery and facilitate research of ischemia-reperfusion injury, organ preservation strategies, and future donor-based interventions. Important considerations include cost, public opinion regarding the conduct of animal research, translational value, and relevance of the animal model for clinical practice...

The activation of ferroptosis is being pursued in cancer research as a strategy to target apoptosis-resistant cells. By contrast, in various diseases that affect the cardiovascular system, kidneys, liver, and central and peripheral nervous systems, attention is directed toward interventions that prevent ferroptotic cell death. Mechanistic insights into both research areas stem largely from studies using cellular in vitro models. However, intervention strategies that show promise in cellular test systems often fail in clinical trials, which raises concerns regarding the predictive validity of the utilized in vitro models...