Kidney Disease Drug Does Not Help Transplant Recipients

A drug that helps to treat chronic kidney disease does not offer the same benefit for those who had undergone kidney transplantation, according to a study.

Immunosuppressants help prolong the function of transplanted organs, but therapies that target non-immunological damage to these organs-such as elevated blood pressure and tissue scarring (or fibrosis)-have not been studied.

Quiz on Kidney
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist, and are located just below the rib cage, one on each side of your spine.

Healthy kidneys filter about half a cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine. The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through two thin tubes of muscle called ureters, one on each side of your bladder. The bladder stores urine. The kidneys, ureters, and bladder are partof the urinary tract.

kidneys remove wastes and extra fluid from your body. Kidneys also remove acid that is produced by the cells of your body and maintain a healthy balance of water, salts, and minerals-such as sodium, calcium, phosphorus and potassium-in your blood ().

Diabetic Kidney Disease - Symptoms, Signs, Causes, Diagnosis, Stages & Treatment
Diabetic nephropathy refers to kidney damage due very high levels of blood sugar levels in diabetics.

Without this balance, nerves, muscles, and other tissues in the body may not work normally.

Kidneys also make hormones that help

Control your blood pressure
Make red blood cells
Keep your bones strong and healthy

Angiotensin II blockade, which causes blood vessels to dilate, can slow the progression of kidney disease in individuals without kidney transplants. Hassan Ibrahim, MD (University of Minnesota) and his colleagues set out to test the strategy in transplant recipients. "To our knowledge this is the first randomized placebo-controlled trial of angiotensin II blockade in these patients," said Dr. Ibrahim.

The investigators assigned 153 kidney transplant recipients to receive the angiotensin II receptor blocker losartan or placebo within three months of transplantation, continuing treatment for five years.

"Contrary to what has been observed in native kidney disease, angiotensin II blockade did not demonstrate a statistically significant benefit in lessening fibrosis or terminal kidney failure from severe fibrosis. Nevertheless, angiotensin II blockade was safe and well-tolerated," said Dr. Ibrahim. He noted that a similar trial is ongoing in Canada.

The findings provide valuable information for future studies of non-immunological therapies for kidney transplant recipients.

Source-Newswise

About Transplantation
Since the early times, the novel idea of transplanting tissues and other body parts from one organism to the other has captured the imagination of successive generations.

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