SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects 1 in 7 people in the United States, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). These individuals have a very high risk of cardiovascular disease, and some will also progress to kidney failure requiring dialysis and transplantation.
However, few options exist to treat them, and few major breakthroughs have been made during the last 30 years. More than 660,000 Americans have kidney failure, according to the NIDDK.
A new study that included researchers from Norway, the University of Washington, the University of California San Diego and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (now called UT Health San Antonio™) found that dozens of small molecules called metabolites are altered in this disease. “We analyzed these small molecules in the blood and urine of non-diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and compared the results to samples obtained from a group of healthy individuals,” said Stein Hallan, M.D., first author of the study published in EBioMedicine. “Importantly, our study identified that a group of molecules called tri-carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites are significantly affected in chronic kidney disease.”
