New Hope: Kidney Disease Cure Awaiting Further Studies

In a major collaborative study between Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, the Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, and the University of Pittsburgh, researchers may have just stumbled across a kidney disease cure while exploring fish!

This amazing news will create much hope for millions of people right across the world suffering from kidney disease, and it is something I will definitely keep a close eye on for you all.

Aside from dialysis and kidney transplants, the medical community have not yet been able to find a cure, or anything that comes close as a ‘real’ treatment (unlike natural therapies that currently leads the way).

So for me this exciting, we may very well be at a point in history where we can blend the very best of western medicine, and natural medicine, to help people right across the world with kidney problems.

So What Is The Research, And What Is It Showing?

Well researchers have identified a cell in Zebrafish that has the ability, once transplanted, to regenerate nephrons from one fish to another (Wow), and therefore increase kidney function.

A fact that many people don’t know, is that many non-mammals (e.g. fish) have the capacity to continually generate new healthy kidney cells (nephrons) right through their life; human beings and other mammals on the other hand do not continually generate new kidney cells.

Progenitor Fish Cells

So far the researchers have been able to identify the kidneys cells (progenitor cells) within Zebrafish, that can be transplanted from one fish to another, and help generate new nephrons.

The researchers will now take their initial findings and start applying them to mammals, such as mice, in the hope that it all can be passed on to humans.

The researchers commented: “Understanding how non-mammalian vertebrates like Zebrafish, carry out this remarkable regenerative process and why mammals have lost this ability is a fundamental biologic question. We believe that answering this question might provide new ways to repair damaged human kidneys and dramatically extend and improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients with chronic renal failure.”

In Closing

As most of us reading this know, kidney disease is already a world epidemic. 10% of the USA has some form of kidney disease, and this is set (unless major changes in our society occur) to increase with each year that passes. Our western lifestyle and diet are placing the entire population at risk of developing kidney disease, along with cardiovascular problems and diabetes. So until we start educating people from a very early age (starting at home) the proper principles of health and wellness, these studies are a light in contrast to the black hole that many people often feel they are in.

The research is definitely a long way off yet, and still requires (I would imagine) many more years’ worth of trials before we could see this on our next doctor’s script. However all amazing discoveries have to start somewhere, and I hope that this is one of them.

Remember this is not your only option, and you don’t have to wait many years for stem cell research to mature so that you may bring about kidney health, natural remedies have for many thousands of years, and still are, helping those with chronic kidney disease recover and live healthy lives.

Anyway, I hope that this potential kidney disease cure has brightened up your day!

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Source: Nature Magazine, Volume: 470, Pages: 95–100 Date published: (03 February 2011)