One of the most frustrating things in clinical nephrology is to give a diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease (PKD) to a young patient, and follow that up by saying that they could progress to end stage renal disease…
Over at the Atlantic this week, an article was published written by one of the people who took part in the early trials of tolvaptan for APKD. The article shows just how much hope people with this disorder…
Currently there is no good treatment for the most common inherited cause of ESRD, adult polycystic kidney disease. There have been a number of high profile trials in ADPKD in recent years. These trials have endeavored to show…
One of the big stories at the ASN this year was the announcement of the results of the TEMPO trial which were simultaneously published in NEJM. It has been known for some time that ADH is implicated in…
A couple of years ago, it was noted that mTOR inhibitors slowed the growth of cysts in animal models of Polycystic Kidney Disease. Although the activity of mTOR is minimal in normal renal epithelial cells, in cyst epithelial…
There was an interesting article and accompanying editorial in JASN this month about the role of polarity in the development of cystic renal diseases. The maintenance of epithelial cell polarity is vital for the normal functioning of the…
As mentioned previously by Nate, there is some evidence that lowering urine osmolarity below that of the serum can reduce the rate of growth of cysts in PCKD and thus preserve renal function. The rationale for this is…
Nate Hellman’s bench was three benches down from my lab. Nate and I trained together as clinical fellows. He and I had also brainstormed on research projects involving TRP channels and kidney disease. TRP channels are my research…
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is characterized by the gradual enlargement of multiple fluid filled cysts in both kidneys, which compress and destroy normal adjacent nephrons, typically resulting in ESRD by the fifth decade of life. Management…
One of the hallmarks of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is hypertension. True, most patients with advanced kidney disease get hypertension anyways–but often the degree of hypertension in ADPKD patients seems to be especially high. Is there…
