Why Some Kidney Disease Patients Can't Repair Blood Vessels
Thursday, October 27, 2011 - 16:30
in Health & Medicine
1) Patients with an autoimmune disease called anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis produce antibodies that damage blood vessels in the kidneys. 2) Patients with the disease harbor elevated blood levels of the protein Flt1, which hinders blood vessel repair. 3) Inhibiting Flt1 may help prevent kidney failure in the 1:50,000 patients around the world who have anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis, plus those with other more frequent diseases involving blood vessels in the kidneys.