The Network is delighted to talk about the recently published NEPHSTROM paper that comes from years of hard work from Members Prof O’Brien and Prof Griffin.
The NEPSTROM paper explored an exciting new way to help people with Diabetic Kidney disease. Our kidneys are like filters in a car engine, but, unlike cars, you can’t just take a person to the mechanic for an oil change and a new filter!
The challenge is to fix the kidney while it’s still working. In this paper, they talk about a cool idea: using special cells from the bone marrow to help fix the kidney, which can make it work better. These bone marrow cells are called allogeneic mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs), and they send signals that can help fix things that have gone wrong in diabetic kidney disease.
In the study, the main thing they wanted to find out was whether these MSCs were safe for the patients compared to a pretend treatment (placebo). Good news – the MSCs worked well and didn’t cause any problems! They also wanted to see if the kidney worked better with these MSCs, and it did in two out of three ways they checked.
Even though the study had only a few people in it because of COVID-19, it’s a step in the right direction and gives hope for new treatments for people with diabetic kidney disease.
Click here to read the paper NEPHSTROM paper
