Molecular mechanisms of macrophage-mediated renal injury.

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/122202

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

The complete loss of kidney function means that survival of the patient is dependent upon lifelong dialysis or a kidney transplant. Dialysis patients have a poor quality of life, and the provision of dialysis and transplantation treatments are very costly. Our current therapies reply upon steroids and cytotoxic drugs. These therapies have only limited efficacy and are associated with significant side-effects. Therefore, we need to develop new and specific approaches to the treatment of kidney disease. To do this, we need to begin by understanding the way in which the kidney is damaged in disease. Our studies have shown that white blood cells, called macrophages, enter the kidney in large numbers during disease. Indeed, the greater the number of macrophages within the kidney, the more severe the kidney injury. We believe, one the basis of animal studies, that these macrophages cause kidney injury. However, we do not know the mechanisms by which this happens. To address this question, we have developed a rat model of kidney disease in which we can take macrophages, which we have cultured in the laboratory, and inject them into animals and they will enter the kidney and cause injury. This allows us to modify specific macrophage functions in culture and then determine whether this affects the ability of these macrophages to cause kidney injury in the animal. In this way, we will be able to understand the mechanisms by which macrophages cause kidney injury. We hope that these studies will enable us to develop new and specific approaches to the treatment of human kidney disease.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2000

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $59,756.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Nephrology And Urology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Acute glomerular injury | Cytokines | Glomerulonephritis | Kidney diseases | Macrophages | Renal failure

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