Regression of Peritubular Capillaries Coincides with Angiogenesis and Renal Cyst Growth in Experimental Polycystic Kidney Disease.

Background/aim: The natural history of the renal microvasculature changes in PKD is not known. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that angiogenesis is coupled with kidney cyst expansion, and the loss of peritubular capillary networks precedes the onset of interstitial fibrosis.

Methods: The renal microvasculature (RECA-1 and CD34) was evaluated in groups of Lewis polycystic kidney (LPK) rats and juvenile cystic kidney () mice during the early, mid and late stage of disease.

Cytomegalovirus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes can be efficiently expanded from granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized hemopoietic progenitor cell products ex vivo and safely transferred to stem cell transplantation recipients to facilitate immune reconstitution.

Uncontrolled cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation causes significant morbidity and mortality. Adoptive transfer of CMV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) is a promising therapy to treat reactivation and prevent viral disease. In this article, we describe the generation of clinical-grade CMV-specific CTLs directly from granulocyte colony-stimulating factor-mobilized hemopoietic progenitor cell (G-HPC) products collected for transplantation.

Early cyst growth is associated with the increased nuclear expression of cyclin D1/Rb protein in an autosomal-recessive polycystic kidney disease rat model.

Background: In this study we hypothesised that proliferation, and the increased expression of G(1)-phase cyclins (D1, E) and phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein (p-Rb) is restricted to the early period of synchronized cyst growth in autosomal-recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD).

Methods: Lewis polycystic kidney disease (lpk) rats (model of ARPKD; postnatal weeks 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24; n = 6 each) as well as human juvenile cystic renal disease tissue (n = 2) were examined.

Results: Between weeks 1 and 3, the percentage cyst area increased 6-fold in lpk rats, followed by a more progressive rise (1.

Therapeutic role of sirolimus in non-transplant kidney disease.

Sirolimus is a member of a novel class of immunosuppressant drug that potently suppresses T cell proliferation and expansion by inhibition of the Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1) protein kinase. Sirolimus also has anti-proliferative effects on intrinsic cells of the kidney, and increasing evidence suggests that it may have a therapeutic role in non-transplant renal diseases. In the normal kidney, sirolimus is considered to be non-nephrotoxic.

Requirement of MyD88 for macrophage-mediated islet xenograft rejection after adoptive transfer.

Background: Porcine antigen primed and CD4+ T-cell activated macrophages are able to migrate to and destroy porcine xenografts. However, the specific signaling mechanisms involved remain to be identified.

Methods: In this study macrophages which lack the universal toll-like receptor (TLR) adaptor MyD88 were used to investigate the role of TLR in the recognition and activation of macrophages in islet xenograft rejection.