New hope for some nephrotic syndrome patients

Kidney Research UK funded researchers at the University of Bristol have made a breakthrough that could prevent certain kidney patients progressing towards renal failure. The team have identified a new treatment pathway for patients with nephrotic syndrome where the cause is not known (idiopathic nephrotic syndrome or INS).

Sandra Currie, Chief executive

Registered charity no. 252892. Scottish charity no. SC039245.

The researchers knew that there might be one or more factors in the blood (a substance involved in a biological reaction) that cause the kidneys in INS patients to fail.

Using bags of plasma taken from dialysing INS patients, the team identified a link between a receptor (a molecular substance causing a specific effect in the cell) known as PAR-1 and the unknown factor, so blocking PAR-1 receptors using existing drugs could now be a viable option to treat the effects of the unknown factor.

Dr Carl May

The study is published in Kidney International

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