Clinical and Experimental Nephrology

Inflammation plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of various kidney diseases. Kidney perivascular cells (pericytes/fibroblasts) are responsible for producing proinflammatory molecules, promoting immune cell infiltration, and enhancing inflammation. Vascular adhesion protein-1, expressed in kidney perivascular cells, is an ectoenzyme that catalyzes the oxidative deamination of primary amines with the production of hydrogen peroxide in the extracellular space. Our study demonstrated that blocking this enzyme suppressed hydrogen peroxide production and neutrophil infiltration, thereby reducing renal ischemia-reperfusion injury...

BACKGROUND: The number of marginal living kidney donors has increased. Medically complex donors who have hypertension, older age, or low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) have been more likely to be used. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of living kidney donors at a single center. We analyzed 309 living donors and divided them into three groups: group with older donors (aged ≥70 years) (n = 41), middle-aged (aged 46-69 years) (n = 239), and young donors (aged <46 years) (N = 29)...

BACKGROUND: Letermovir is approved for cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis in adult allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients worldwide and is also approved in the United States for CMV prophylaxis in adult high-risk (D+/R-) kidney transplant recipients (KTRs). The safety and efficacy of letermovir for CMV prophylaxis in adult Japanese KTRs are reported here. METHODS: In this Phase 3, single-arm, open-label study, adult Japanese KTRs with CMV serostatuses D+/R-, D+/R+, and D-/R+ received letermovir 480 mg daily orally within 7 days post-transplant through Week 28...

BACKGROUND: Telitacicept, an innovative drug used for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), can effectively control disease progression and achieve favorable outcomes. While case reports have mentioned the use of Telitacicept in lupus nephritis (LN) treatment, its safety and efficacy in treating patients with LN have not been explored. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Telitacicept in managing patients with LN. METHODS: In a single-center, real-world retrospective study, 30 LN patients with poor response or adverse reactions to conventional glucocorticoids at our Hospital were enrolled to receive Telitacicept...

BACKGROUND: Limited direct comparative studies exist in terms of the effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2is) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4is) on the kidney outcomes in Japanese individuals with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included 561 Japanese adults with type 2 diabetes, who were newly prescribed either an SGLT2i or a DPP4i and had an eGFR ≥ 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 . The cohort comprised 207 women and 354 men, with a mean (± standard deviation) age of 63 (± 12) years...

BACKGROUND: Calcium supplements are commonly prescribed to prevent fractures in patients with osteoporosis. Nonetheless, they are generally eschewed in hemodialysis patients because they increase vascular calcification and induce cardiovascular disease. This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the effect of calcium-based phosphate binders (CBPB) on bone mineral density (BMD) in hemodialysis patients. METHODS: Outpatients on dialysis who underwent BMD measurement from January to December 2017, whose data on BMD trends and CBPB administration were recorded over the next 4 years, were enrolled...

The time for diabetic nephropathy (DN) to progress from mild to severe is long. Thus, methods to continuously repress DN are required to exert long-lasting effects mediated through epigenetic regulation. In this study, we demonstrated the ability of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and its metabolites to reduce albuminuria through Sirt1- or Nampt-dependent epigenetic regulation. We previously reported that proximal tubular Sirt1 was lowered before glomerular Sirt1. Repressed glomerular Sirt1 was found to epigenetically elevate Claudin-1...

BACKGROUND: Serum lactate dehydrogenase to albumin ratio (LAR) is associated with poor outcomes in malignancy and pneumonia. However, there are few studies suggesting that LAR is associated with the occurrence of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with sepsis, which was investigated in this study. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database. The primary outcome was the occurrence of AKI within 2 days and 7 days...

INTRODUCTION: Cigarette smoking is one of the most important life-modifiable risk factors for CVD events. The effect on CKD progression caused by smoking remained uncertain, while the effect on CVD had been established. METHOD: The study population included participants from the specific health check and specific health guidance, an annual health check-up for all inhabitants of Japan who were aged between 40 and 74 years. 149,260 subjects (male, 37.1%; female, 62...

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the major etiologies that cause chronic kidney disease (CKD) and can exacerbate kidney dysfunction. Zinc is an essential trace element playing a role in blood pressure regulation, and zinc deficiency, a common comorbidity in patients with CKD, can cause hypertension. However, the precise mechanism underlying zinc deficiency-induced hypertension is unknown. Sodium (Na+ ) retention due to inappropriate Na+ reabsorption in the renal tubule is the principal pathophysiology of hypertension...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop machine learning models for risk prediction of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. METHODS: We extracted CABG patients from the electronic medical record system of the hospital. The endpoint of this study was the requirement for CRRT after CABG surgery. The Boruta method was used for feature selection. Seven machine learning algorithms were developed to train models and validated using 10 fold cross-validation (CV)...

BACKGROUND: We investigate whether Intensive uric acid (UA)-lowering therapy (ULT) provides increased renal protection compared with standard therapy in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. METHODS: This was a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Only CKD patients with hyperuricemia were included in this study. The participants were randomly assigned to either the Intensive therapy group (target serum UA level ≥ 4.0 mg/dL and < 5...

BACKGROUND: Vadadustat is an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor developed for treating anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD). The purpose of this post-hoc analysis was to investigate the factors affecting the responsiveness to vadadustat in anemia patients with nondialysis-dependent (NDD) or hemodialysis-dependent (HDD) CKD in two Japanese phase 3 studies. METHODS: Of 151 and 162 patients enrolled in NDD-CKD and HDD-CKD studies, 136 and 140 patients, respectively, were included and divided into subgroups for the analysis...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Magnesium deficiency is associated with various health conditions, but its impact on the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between serum magnesium levels and prognosis of renal function in CKD patients. METHODS: This is an analysis of the Japan Chronic Kidney Disease Database Ex　(J-CKD-DB-Ex), which is a multicenter prospective cohort including CKD patients enrolled from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2020...

BACKGROUND: Agonal bacteremia, diagnosed with postmortem positive blood culture results, is considered a possible contributing factor to death. We hypothesized that some premortem organ damage, such as kidney damage, can enhance agonal bacteremia. METHODS: We performed a postmortem blood and alveolar fluid culture study in 30 cadavers and evaluated the relationship between blood culture results and clinical parameters, including organ damage (brain, heart, lung, kidney, liver and gastrointestinal tract)...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to analyze genotype-phenotype correlations in children with Gitelman syndrome (GS). METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study included 50 Korean children diagnosed with SLC12A3 variants in one or both alleles and the typical laboratory findings of GS. Genetic testing was performed using the Sanger sequencing except for one patient. RESULTS: The median age at the diagnosis was 10.5 years (interquartile range, 6...

BACKGROUND: Peritonitis is the leading cause of peritoneal dialysis (PD) discontinuation. However, few data concern risk factors of peritonitis development and catheter removal caused by treatment failure in pediatric patients. METHODS: This single-center, retrospective study analyzed data from pediatric patients who underwent chronic PD between March 2002 and June 2022. The incidence rates of peritonitis by the person-year method were calculated, and they were stratified by patient age groups...

BACKGROUND: High protein intake leads to a decline in renal function in the advanced stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). An effective diet for maintaining renal function in healthy individuals or patients in the early stages of CKD has not been established. This cohort study was conducted in Saku, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, to investigate the impact of dietary habits on renal function. METHODS: In this cross-sectional cohort study, we used the Saku Control Obesity Program (UMIN000016892), including 4,446 participants who submitted a brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire and underwent routine physical examination...