http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The Clinical Institute of Pathology at the MedUni Vienna has discovered a previously unknown mechanism in the regulation of gene expression that leads to the development of a chronic renal condition known as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Primary FSGS is currently untreatable and can lead to secondary conditions ranging from nephrotic syndrome with severe oedema to the destruction of renal function. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-faulty-gene-triggers-kidney-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:17:41 EST news282989851 Patients with a disease that is a leading cause of kidney failure tend to have high levels of a particular factor circulating in their blood, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The findings suggest that the factor could be used to monitor the disease's progression as well as patients' response to different therapies. It might also be a therapeutic target of future treatments for this difficult-to-treat disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-circulating-blood-factor-linked-kidney.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:00:01 EST news271613516 For the first time, a kidney that had been donated to a patient in need was removed and implanted into a new patient, the third individual to have the organ, after it failed in the first transplant recipient. Ray Fearing, a 27-year-old Arlington Heights resident received the organ from his sister, Cera, after a long battle with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a disease in which scar tissue develops on the part of the kidney that filters waste out of the blood, ultimately causing kidney failure. When signs of his illness reoccurred just days after he received the organ and posed life-threatening symptoms, doctors informed Fearing that they would have no choice but to remove the failing kidney. They also informed Fearing that he could potentially save someone else's life by donating the organ and allowing doctors to re-implant it into another patient in need of transplant, something that had never successfully been done before with a kidney. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-kidney-transplanted-weeks.html Surgery Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:00:09 EST news254591569 African-Americans with two copies of the APOL1 gene have about a 4 percent lifetime risk of developing a form of kidney disease, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health. The finding brings scientists closer to understanding why African-Americans are four times more likely to develop kidney failure than whites, as they reported in the Oct. 13 online edition of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-gene-variant-kidney-disease-african-americans.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:51:42 EST news238672292 Compared to European Americans, African Americans are four to five times more likely to develop kidney failure. Also, family members of African Americans with kidney failure have an increased risk of developing kidney failure, which suggests that genetics may play a role in this skewed risk between races. Previous studies identified variants in a gene called APOL1 that may play a role. The APOL1 gene creates a protein that is a component of HDL, or good cholesterol. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-ways-kidney-disease-african-americans.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:27:03 EST news237785207