Kidney Transplant News and Research

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A kidney transplant is an operation where a healthy kidney from one person (the donor) is transferred to a person who has little or no kidney function (the recipient).

Biologic, environmental factors may be possible culprits for racial disparities in CKD progression

Although black and Hispanic veterans with chronic kidney disease are more likely than white patients to see a kidney specialist- a nephrologist- they are more likely to suffer disease progression from early stage to advanced kidney disease, reports a study published this month in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology from researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

24 Aug 2018

Kidney transplantation can be safely performed using organs from patients who had HCV

Researchers at Loma Linda University Health found that kidney transplantation can be safely performed using organs testing positive for the hepatitis C virus antibody but negative for active viral infection.

23 Aug 2018

Researchers engineer peptide nanoparticles to outsmart biological system and target kidney cells

Remember the scene in the movie Mission: Impossible when Tom Cruise has to sneak into the vault? He had to do all sorts of moves to avoid detection. That's what it's like to sneak a targeted drug into a kidney and keep it from getting eliminated from the body.

22 Aug 2018

Advances in treating hep C lead to new option for transplant patients

After her kidneys failed from the same illness that took the lives of her mother and brother, Anne Rupp went on dialysis in May 2016, spending three hours a day, three times a week undergoing the blood-cleaning procedure. She hated it.

13 Aug 2018

Kidney transplant chains save more lives than kidney exchanges, shows research

New research from the UBC Sauder School of the Business has found that transplant societies which prioritize kidney transplant chains over kidney exchanges can increase the total number of transplants, thereby saving more lives.

10 Aug 2018

Blood samples used to understand repair and regeneration mechanisms of transplanted organs

Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have shown that gene expression analysis of blood samples taken from the recipients of transplanted kidneys can be used to better understand the mechanisms that promote repair and regeneration of the transplanted organs.

1 Aug 2018

Gene therapy study shows promise for chronic kidney disease

A study has shown that a viral vector can deliver genetic material to damaged kidney cells, potentially providing a treatment that can slow or reverse chronic kidney disease.

6 Jul 2018

Worldwide study to examine new treatments for IgA nephropathy

A patient from Birmingham is the first person to be recruited into a new worldwide study to test new treatments for a potentially life-threatening kidney condition called IgA nephropathy.

28 Jun 2018

Study finds cell-free DNA profiling as versatile method to monitor UTIs

Using shotgun DNA sequencing, Cornell University researchers have demonstrated a new method for monitoring urinary tract infections that surpasses traditional methods in providing valuable information about the dynamics of the infection as well as the patient's biological response.

21 Jun 2018

Kidney donation among carefully-selected older adults poses minimal risks

With increasing organ demand, living kidney donation from older donors has become more common. A new Clinical Transplantation study indicates that kidney donation among carefully-selected adults over 60 years of age poses minimal perioperative risks and no added risk of long-term kidney failure.

20 Jun 2018

Alnylam announces new positive results from Phase 1/2 study of lumasiran in patients with PH1

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today new positive results from its Phase 1/2 study with lumasiran, an investigational RNAi therapeutic targeting glycolate oxidase for the treatment of Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1.

8 Jun 2018

Practicing with fake organs helps surgeon to perform complex cancer surgery

Anthony Camnetar remembers the first time he was told that he had von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.

7 Jun 2018

Scientists reveal mechanisms that may help preterm infants extend nephron development window

Nephrons are the microscopic blood-filtering units inside our kidneys that convert waste products into urine, regulate our electrolyte levels and our blood pressure.

22 May 2018

3D printing found to improve success rates of life-saving, organ transplantation in children

Stratasys, a global leader in additive technology solutions, today announced that surgeons at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, are using 3D printing technology to improve the success rates of life-saving, complex organ transplantation in young children.

17 May 2018

Scientists reveal detailed structure of virus that affects transplant patients

Researchers from the University of Leeds have revealed the structure of a virus which affects kidney and bone marrow transplant patients in near-atomic levels of detail for the first time.

27 Apr 2018

Study: Transplanted livers have a protective effect and reduce potential for organ rejection

Transplanted livers change the profile of blood cells in the recipients, reducing the potential for organ rejection, Mayo Clinic research shows.

18 Apr 2018

Data-driven tool defines risk stages for children with chronic kidney disease

Experts in pediatric kidney disease have published a new staging system to help doctors better predict the length of time until a child with chronic kidney disease (CKD) will need to undergo a kidney transplant or start receiving dialysis. Although this type of prognostic guide exists for adults, this is the first such tool specific to children.

10 Apr 2018

Analysis reveals decreasing trend in infection-related mortality among kidney transplant recipients

Since the 1990s, the risk of dying from infections after kidney transplantation has dropped by half, according to a recent analysis. The analysis, which appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, also found that common bacterial infections remain the most frequent cause of infection-related death among transplant recipients.

6 Apr 2018

New intervention aims to improve treatment adherence among teen kidney transplant recipients

Learning to become self-sufficient and responsible is part of life's journey through the teen and young adult years. Mistakes are often made, and lessons are learned. However, for young kidney-graft patients, any mistake or failure in keeping to their strict immunosuppressive therapy can lead to tragic results.

27 Mar 2018

Trained navigators may improve patients' chances of receiving life-saving kidney transplants

In a recent study, a trained navigator who provided guidance to disadvantaged patients with kidney failure helped increase access to the transplant waitlist among patients who needed a longer time to get through the transplant evaluation process.