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Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo
Study uncovers clues to treating kidney disease
14 October 2009
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| The hair-like structures (in green) are the subject of the study |
A Monash study has shed new light on the microscopic antennas in the kidney that are involved in the organ's repair process.
The work may be a crucial step towards a cure for polycystic kidney disease, a potentially fatal disease that affects more than one in 1000 people.
The study, led by Dr James Deane from the Centre for Inflammatory Disease, showed how kidney repair processes are controlled.
"We have shown for the first time that the hair-like structures on kidney cells, called cilia, change their length in response to injury in human patients," Dr Deane said.
"These cells grow up to four times their original length in the later stages of kidney repair and are similar to antennas, increasing their length to amplify the signals they send to kidney cells at vital stages of repair.
"We think this is how they turn off the repair process when it is complete and allow the kidney to start working normally again."
Dr Deane said if the switching on and off of the repair process was not properly controlled, rapidly reproducing cells would distort the tubes of the kidney, preventing them from functioning properly. This is what appears to happen in people that have polycystic kidney disease, a condition which is currently untreatable.
"Our research helps put a logical framework behind what is happening in polycystic kidney disease, as the mutations that cause the disease can damage the hair-like structures of kidneys cells," Dr Deane said.
"We hope that this work will lead to new ways of treating both kidney injury and polycystic kidney disease."
The findings have appeared in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
The research was funded by donations from the Wodonga Rotary Club and the CASS Foundation, and grant support from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
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