The Potential Drug Treatment For Kidney Found
Worldwide twelve million people are affected from the inherited kidney disease. The latest Drug Treatment of this problem has been found now. Thomas Weimbs, director of the laboratory where the discovery was made, said that currently, no treatment exists to prevent or slow cyst formation, and t most patients need to transplant kidney or lifelong dialysis for whole life till they are alive.
The drug rapamycin, also called sirolimus, is currently used as an immunosuppressant, to help avoid rejection of a new, transplanted kidney.
Currently there are several clinical trials ongoing internationally to test the safety and effectiveness of rapamycin and related drugs in polycystic kidney disease, explain Jonathan Shillngford, first author on the paper.
First results from these studies are expected to come into view this year and the scientists hope that these drugs will prove to be favorable.
But it will be important to balance any benefits against the probable side results to judge whether these drugs should be recommended for the treatment of polycystic kidney disease, he said.
The Weimbs lab has studied rapamycin in mice for many years. The results are published in the current online issue of the journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
February 11 2010 11:25 am | Health