Sunday, February 26, 2017

PKD Life: Need Kidney? Consider Paired Donation; Walk for PKD: Austin, Mayo Clinic Looking for PKD Reseacher

PKD Life

From Bend Bulletin, Central Oregon, Posted by Jan Spitz

Options for kidney transplants

I found The Bulletin’s story about living kidney donors from January especially interesting because I too have polycystic kidney disease, which was at end stage. I would like to share another option for anyone needing a kidney transplant.

My husband volunteered to be my kidney donor, but we were not a match for a direct transplant. Then we joined the kidney “paired donation” program at Legacy Good Samaritan transplant center in Portland. They are members of three paired donor organizations. In six months our transplant coordinator found a donor in Florida who was an excellent match for me and I had my transplant Jan 4. Amazing!

This can be difficult but my heartfelt advice is for you to share your story. Find one person wanting to be your donor. If the two of you are a match then a direct transplant may be an option. But if you do not match, then consider the paired donor option. A caveat: The success of this option may depend on which transplant center you choose. Talk to living-donor coordinators at transplant centers and ask about their participation in paired donor programs. How many paired donor organizations do they belong to? How many paired donor transplants have they done?

The incredible kindness of donors, the paired donor option and the transplant center staff working for me was my ticket to a new kidney. I hope for the same good fortune for others struggling with kidney disease!




From Austin 360

Austin Walk for PKD


April 22, 2017
9:30 am Veterans Memorial Park

Come together for our signature fundraising event to benefit Polycystic Kidney Disease research and awareness. PKD - one of the most common, life-threatening genetic diseases — causes cysts to grow and kidney function to decrease. It affects generations of families, striking both adults and children leading to the need for dialysis and a kidney transplant. The Walk for PKD brings a group of volunteers, walkers and supporters together to unite to find treatments and a cure for polycystic kidney disease. We will continue to walk until no one has to suffer the full effects of this devastating disease. Currently there is no treatment or cure but thanks to our supporters - there is hope! The Austin walk is only 1.3 miles. Refreshments and coffee will be provided by local businesses along with great prize drawings, information and live music. Pre-registration is suggested. The event is free but donations and fundraising is expected. We walk rain or shine!

Price: Free - Donations suggested

http://www.walkforpkd.org/austin
2525 W New Hope Dr. Cedar Park, TX




PKD Research

From Mayo Clinic

Faculty Position in Polycystic Kidney Disease Research (PKD)


The appointee will have a record of research funding and establish a conceptually innovative, independent research program to explore the molecular pathogenesis of PKD. This research program will be supported by and aligned with the goals of the Mayo Clinic Robert M. and the Billie Kelley Pirine Translational PKD Center. The established, internationally competitive research program will collaborate with Mayo PKD scientist on basic, translational and clinical studies, including on interdisciplinary projects.

Credentials of the successful candidate will include a Ph.D, MD, or MD-Ph.D, evidence of high impact research into PKD or a related area, and will be appointed at the Assistant, Associate or full Professor level, depending on experience.

Learn and grow among the best in your field at the nation’s top hospital (U.S.News & World Report, 2016-2017), ranked No. 1 in more specialties than any other care provider. At Mayo Clinic, you’ll use the power of collaboration to achieve the highest standards for medical care and health improvement, working in the largest integrated, not-for-profit medical group practice in the world with over 60,000 employees. You’re invited to contribute to a unique environment that brings together the best in patient care, groundbreaking research and innovative medical education. Being a part of Mayo Clinic allows for more work-life balance, competitive compensation and generous benefits, career security and the ability to manage and coordinate patient care in the most efficient ways possible. Discover these and many other reasons why we’re recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one of the top 100 “Best Companies to Work For”.

CLICK HERE to apply online and learn more about Mayo Clinic and the vast array of opportunities that await you.


©2016 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Post offer/pre-employment drug screening is required. Mayo Clinic is an equal opportunity educator and employer (including veterans and persons with disabilities).

Sunday, February 19, 2017

PKD Research: Drug RGLS4326 in Pre-Clinic Testing; NeoNatal PKD Tolvaptan Treatment Report

PKD Research

From Eureka Alert!

UT Southwestern researchers develop potential treatment for fatal kidney disease
IMAGE

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, working with a California biotech firm, have developed a potential drug to treat polycystic kidney disease - an incurable genetic disease that often leads to end-stage kidney failure.

The drug, now called RGLS4326, is in preclinical animal testing at San Diego-based Regulus Therapeutics Inc. An investigational new drug filing to pave the way for human clinical trials is expected later this year, said Dr. Vishal Patel, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern.

Dr. Patel is senior author of a study describing research that led to the drug's development, published online today in Nature Communications.

Affecting about 600,000 people in the U.S., autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) causes numerous fluid-filled cysts to form in the kidney. An affected kidney, normally the size of a human fist, sometimes grows as large as a football. As their numbers and sizes increase, these cysts eventually interfere with the kidney's ability to filter blood and remove bodily waste. The cysts can quietly grow for decades until symptoms appear such as blood in the urine, Dr. Patel said. About half of those affected with ADPKD suffer kidney failure by age 60, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

"There isn't a single drug on the U.S. market right now to treat the disease," Dr. Patel said. "Once your kidneys fail, your only option for survival is to get a transplant or start dialysis."

In 2009, Dr. Patel began searching for microRNAs that might underlie progression of ADPKD. MicroRNAs - or MiRs for short - are tiny RNA fragments that interfere with normal gene expression.

Proof that such RNA fragments even existed came in the early 1990s; their presence in humans was first reported in 2000. Those discoveries led to a groundswell of interest in developing drugs to treat diseases caused by microRNAs, Dr. Patel said - in part because the process can be straightforward once the problem-causing fragment is identified.

"Because miRs are so small, drugs can easily be designed against them. And since we know the nucleotide sequence of every known microRNA, all that is required is to prepare an anti-miR with a sequence that is exactly the opposite of the miR's," he said.

In this study, researchers in Dr. Patel's lab focused on microRNA cluster 17~92 following identification of potential miR targets. A National Institutes of Health grant funded the UTSW research. In 2013, Dr. Patel and fellow researchers reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that this microRNA cluster indeed appeared to promote kidney cyst growth.

Using four mouse models, the researchers next studied whether inhibiting this microRNA could slow cyst growth and thus delay ADPKD progression. They found that genetically deleting microRNA-17~92 slowed cyst growth and more than doubled the life spans of some mice tested.

Based on that finding, Dr. Patel's lab collaborated with Regulus Therapeutics to test an anti-microRNA-17 drug. The test drug slowed the growth of kidney cysts in two mouse models and in cell cultures of human kidney cysts, the study showed.

In the Nature Communications study, UTSW researchers also reported how miR-17 causes cyst proliferation: the molecule essentially reprograms the metabolism of kidney cells so that cellular structures called mitochondria use less nutrients, freeing up resources to instead make cell parts that become cysts. MiR-17 accomplishes this by repressing a protein involved in making RNA called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARĪ±), the researchers found.




From Springer Link

Tolvaptan treatment for severe neonatal autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease


Patients with severe neonatal polycystic kidney disease (PKD), whether dominant or recessive, have on occasion been treated with nephrectomy and early dialysis. This approach has a high mortality rate due in part to refractory hypotension pos-operatively due to loss of renin secretion [1] and the difficulties involved in managing completely anuric young infants. We present a patient with severe neonatal autosomal-dominant PKD (ADPKD) due to biallelic inheritance of PKD1 mutations. She was successfully treated with tolvaptan, a selective, competitive inhibitor of the vasopressin V2 receptor.

Case report

A 22-year-old woman with a well-established diagnosis and family history of ADPKD was referred for antenatal counselling after a scan at 17 weeks showed abnormal kidneys in the fetus. Serial antenatal ultrasound scans confirmed large, echogenic kidneys with no resolvable cysts. Urine was seen within the bladder, but the amniotic fluid index was consistently at the lower end of the normal range. The female infant was delivered by elective caesarean section at 37 weeks’ gestation weighing 3.370 kg. She was initially pink with good tone, but as soon as the cord was clamped, she became cyanosed and floppy, showing no respiratory effort and heart rate that dropped to 60/min. Inflation breaths administered via a face mask produced no visible chest movement and she was intubated. Ventilation pressures of 35/5 cm water and an inspired oxygen concentration of 50% were required to keep arterial oxygen saturation >90%. Further examination revealed a relatively small chest (Fig. 1a) and a distended abdomen, with massively enlarged kidneys (Fig. 1b).

Sunday, February 12, 2017

PKD Support Group, Need Kidney for Cindy and Charlie

Living with PKD

From Enid News, By Cass Rains

Patient, doctor form polycystic kidney disease support group

Patient, doctor form polycystic kidney disease support group


An Enid resident and her doctor have formed a support group for those who suffer from polycystic kidney disease, and the first meeting is set for later this month.

Melissa Thomas was diagnosed six years ago with PKD and is currently on a transplant list for a new kidney. She said there is a support group that meets in Oklahoma City, but time constraints from work and family obligations make it difficult for her to attend.

Thomas said she spoke with her nephrologist, Dr. Rashmi Vijayvargiya, about forming a support group in Enid.

"She thought it was a terrific idea and has agreed to help co-facilitate a support group and do the education piece," Thomas said. "I wanted there to be some education to it. Even through we cannot control the progression of the disease there are things we can do to help control it. We want the support group to be some education on how we can help ourselves, what we should and should not be doing."

PKD causes numerous cysts to grow in the kidneys. If too many cysts grow, or if they get too big, the kidneys can become damaged. PKD cysts can slowly replace much of the kidneys, reducing kidney function and leading to kidney failure, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

About 600,000 people have PKD in the United States, according to the National Kidney Foundation. It is the fourth-leading cause of kidney failure and is found in all races and occurs equally in men and women. It causes about 5 percent of all kidney failure.

PKD can affect other organs besides the kidney. People with PKD may have cysts in their liver, pancreas, spleen, ovaries and large bowel. Cysts in these organs usually do not cause serious problems, but can in some people. PKD can also affect the brain or heart. If PKD affects the brain, it can cause an aneurysm. If PKD affects the heart, the valves can become floppy, resulting in a heart murmur in some patients.

Thomas said the group will meet from 5:30 to 7 p.m. the third Friday of every month at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center. The group will be in Classroom C in the basement, which the hospital has donated for the group to meet.

"There were a lot of things I didn’t know about getting a transplant," Thomas said. She was placed on a transplant list last July.

"They call the top three. You can get called and sent home," she said. "It’s things like that that people don't understand are happening. I didn't get listed until last July. There are so many things you have to do to be listed. If you cannot afford that, you don’t get listed."

Thomas said she wants to share the things she's learned from living with PKD to others who are just beginning to cope with their disease.

"This is a genetic disease so there are people that know they have it but are not to a point they are seeking a nephrologist yet," she said.




From Four States Home, Joplin, MO, By: Lauren Lapka

A Kidney for Cindy

WEBB CITY, Mo. - In the heart of the Four States, just down the street from the Home of the Cardinals, you'll find a kind-hearted woman named Cindy Thompson. It might be hard to believe, but behind that smile, is someone struggling with a disease.

"Polycystic Kidney Disease: your kidneys fill up with bloody cysts. It just makes you extremely tired, you have no energy," explained dialysis patient Cynthia Thompson.

Cindy was first diagnosed with her disease back in 2008, but as years went by, her condition progressively got worse.

"In September they said 'You can not wait any longer; you've got to go on dialysis,'" Thompson added.

Three days out of the week, Cindy spends 3.5 hours getting her treatment. And while dialysis can help kidneys function as if they were healthy, it isn't a permanent solution to the problem.

"They told me my best bet would be if I could get a donor," said Thompson.

Two people, including her half sister, offered to donate, but they don't have matching blood types. As for other family members.. Well, it's not so simple.

"My youngest brother also has it, but he's not on dialysis yet. My mother had a transplant in 2001. I wasn't actually diagnosed until after my son was and he had a transplant in 2009. His wife was his donor and we are so thankful for that," Thompson explained.

With the family unable to help, they knew they needed to get the word out. That's when Cindy's husband Terry came up with a unique idea.

"'We're going to have a sign made and just put it out in the yard because there might be a neighbor that would be willing, or somebody may drive by and see it,'" said Thompson.

And, that's exactly what happened.

"Well, I backed out of my driveway to go towards town and I saw something in their yard. So, I backed up further and then I pulled over and took a picture because it just took my breath away," said Allen Summers, Cindy's neighbor.

While her neighbor, Allen can't be a donor himself, he is trying his best to spread the word and help Cindy find a donor.

"I just want to help my neighbor. Cindy's a great person, and she needs help. Repeat this to your neighbors, bring it up at church, and talk to your prayer groups and get the word out. Because even if Cindy gets a donor this week, there's still other people," Summers explained.

"I just hope that I'll get a donor and I can go back to a normal life," said Thompson.

Cindy is looking for a donor between the ages of 21 and 50 with type O blood. If you would like to help Cindy out, you can contact her at (417)437-4853 or at (417)673-4095.




From Hoodline, Outer Sunset, San Francisco, CA

'I Can't Grow A Kidney By Myself': Outer Sunset Resident Seeks Donor

Charlie paulson is looking for a living kidney donor



As a new father, Charlie Paulson's first Father's Day last year should have been a time of celebration. Instead, he spent the holiday in the emergency room as his kidneys failed.

Now, the Outer Sunset native is seeking a living kidney donor, his best chance for recovery from a disease that has shadowed much of his life since it was first discovered at age 16.

Paulson has polycystic kidney disorder (PKD), which leaves his kidneys riddled with large cysts. His kidneys are triple their normal size—"the size of a football," he says, when they should be the size of fists. As the cysts grow, the more they inhibit the function of the kidneys.

"They're pushing my other organs out of the way...there's no room left," he says, gesturing to his stomach, which has been pushed out because of the expansion of his kidneys. "[When the kidneys rupture], it feels like I have the flu without symptoms. It's the heavy body feeling, and there's also blood in my urine for one to two weeks."

To manage his condition, he undergoes dialysis at home 25 hours a week. And while fighting through low energy levels, he trains to become a certified high school teacher. Currently, Paulson is teaching two math classes at A.P. Giannini Middle School.

Paulson has now been on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database waiting for a living kidney donor for over three years. He has a particularly aggressive form of the disease that has accelerated the need for a kidney donor, which usually isn't needed in most cases until the patient is 60. Paulson is 34.

Because of the aggressive nature of his case and complications that would lead to failure of the transplanted kidney, Paulson is in need of a living donor—rather than a deceased donor.

As a genetic disorder, PKD runs in his family. Paulson's father died of complications at 41. Both his brother and his 16-year-old niece also have it.

"It's more aggressive in men than women," he noted, "And in me, it's more aggressive than other cases."

The disorder has complicated his life, especially with a young daughter, Alice. It also prompted difficult discussions between Paulson and his wife, Ashley Summers, herself a native Outer Sunset resident who works as a legislative aide for Supervisor Katy Tang. Although they grew up a block away from each other in the Outer Sunset, the two first met while both were working at Sloat Garden Center.

As their relationship progressed, Paulson's kidney disease, and the fact that it was an inherited disorder, became an issue. "He told me that there was a 50/50 chance that our kids would have it," she said.

"I wanted to give her a heads up before anything else," he explains, giving her the opportunity to leave him. However, Summers refused, saying that she didn't want to live her own life without him.

All of this is a lot for a young family to manage, especially as Summers is shouldering care for both Alice and a husband who tires easily. "I'm the only person who can wake up in the middle of the night," she says. "I can't ask Charlie to wake up ... he needs his sleep."

They are pinning their hopes on a living kidney donor to come through, spreading the word to their friends and family and beyond through their Facebook group. For now, Paulson teaches and undergoes dialysis at home, hoping and waiting.

"I don't like asking for help," he admits. "But I can't do this without help, I can't grow a kidney by myself. I realize that this is a huge ask. People don't know how to react when you're sick."

To sign up as a potential kidney donor, fill out this form at UCSF Medical Center. Your information will remain confidential.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

PKD Gift of Life: From Mom with Love, Happy Anniversery, Cowboy Lives

Gift of Life

From Daily Mail, United Kingdom, By ANTHONY JOSEPH
Mother who has already given her four-year-old son part of her liver will now give him a kidney to save his life

Sarah and Joe Lamont (pictured), from Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, are recovering after their ops at separate hospitals in Birmingham



A mother-of-three, who has already given her four-year-old son part of her liver, will now give him a kidney to save his life.

Sarah and Joe Lamont, from Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, are recovering after their ops at separate hospitals in Birmingham.

Her son Joe has been on dialysis since he was born with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, which - destroyed his kidney function at birth. He also has advanced liver disease.

Sarah, who has two other children, Max, 12, and Eve, 10, was allowed to visit little Joe, who is still heavily sedated and in intensive care last night.

In a video post via WhatsApp she said he was doing 'brilliant'.

She said: 'He is doing brilliant, he is very relaxed and his wee belly looks good.'

Last night both were recovering in separate hospitals in Birmingham, family and friends at their bedsides.

This sadly is only the first part of Joe's journey to a happy and content childhood free from dialysis, free from hospital visits and life-threatening complications.

Sarah hopes to donate a kidney in a few months' time, depending on how she and her 'precious wee man' recovers from this gruelling surgical procedure.

The next few days will be crucial as Sarah waits to hear wheher Joe's body has accepted her liver.


'That will be the worrying thing, until I hear the words from the doctors that his body has accepted the transplant I will be sick with worry,' Sarah said before going under the knife.

'That and being apart from Joe in another hospital, in case anything does go wrong, are my biggest fears.'

Sarah's mother and friends splitting their time between the two patients, confident that this is the beginning of a new life for Joe and his family. [Read more]




From Suffolk News Herald, Virginia, By Dale Gauding

Kidney makes unique anniversary gift

Scott and Cindy Chafian celebrate a 20th anniversary party put on by the transplant team and guest services at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, the day after he donated a kidney to her.

Scott and Cindy Chafian celebrate a 20th anniversary party put on by the transplant team and guest services at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, the day after he donated a kidney to her.


Scott and Cindy Chafian, of Suffolk, celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in a most unusual way. They were both in Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, recovering from Scott’s donation of a kidney to Cindy, which took place last Tuesday, the day before their anniversary.

Cindy suffers from polycystic kidney disease, a hereditary condition that also ruined her mother’s kidneys and her grandfather’s. She has been on dialysis for two years, exhausted most of the time and frustrated at the limits it placed on her quality of life.

“If I got dinner on the table for my family, that was a good day,” Cindy said, “but that was the only thing that was going to happen.”

Scott could see how waiting for a kidney donor was affecting Cindy and decided to be tested for compatibility as a living donor. To their surprise, he was a match.

“We literally get to open a new chapter in our life together, fresh and cleanly on our 20th anniversary,” Scott said, “and there’s something symbolic in that.”

Scott learned a lot about living kidney donation during his journey.

“Technology is opening windows of compatibility that weren’t available when we were younger,” he said. “I would tell anyone who is thinking about living donation to get tested. You might be a match for someone.”

Beyond immediate friends and loved ones, Scott learned living donors can join donation “rings” in which a donor gives a kidney to the first compatible recipient, anywhere, which allows the donor’s intended recipient to receive the first kidney available from someone else.
“God bless the families who offer the kidneys of deceased donors,” said Dr. John Colonna, of Sentara Transplant Specialists. “But living donors help patients get off the waiting list, and off dialysis, a lot sooner.”

Colonna added that living donor kidneys last twice as long, on average, than those of deceased donors once they’re implanted.

There are 106,000 patients waiting for donated kidneys across the United States, and there are 22,000 kidney transplants performed each year. The program at Sentara Norfolk General hospital performs about 60 kidney transplants per year and has done 11 so far this month alone. The program also performs pancreas transplants and has done one of those since the beginning of 2017.

Cindy Chafian is looking forward to a new life off kidney dialysis.

“My husband will get his wife back, and my children will get their mother back,” she said. “It’s huge.”




From Jackson Hole News & Guide, Wyoming, By Melissa Cassutt

Cowboy to get life-saving kidney

Stevan Davis

Stevan Davis and his wife, Karin, right, and his donor, Monica McNamee, on Monday at his home in East Jackson. Davis was diagnosed 10 years ago with a genetic disorder known as polycystic kidney disease. He will undergo kidney transplant surgery with McNamee on Feb. 21 in Salt Lake City.


Karin Davis knew something was wrong the minute she read her husband’s blood pressure.

Stevan Davis isn’t exactly a stranger to doctor’s offices — he has broken several bones, had surgery on his wrist and has a steel rod in one of his legs. He spent a lot of his life on the back of rough stock or behind the wheel of a demolition derby vehicle, putting his body through the wringer. But trips to the hospital were always visits of necessity, not wellness checks.


The only reason he even let his wife strap the blood pressure cuff on his arm was because she’d been doing readings on his parents while they were visiting. She wanted to look at his numbers, and he figured why not.


“It must have been like 240 over 120,” Karin Davis said. “It was really, really, alarmingly high.”


A “normal” blood pressure reads less than 120 over less than 80, according to the American Heart Association. Something as high as what Karin Davis measured for her husband constitutes a “hypertensive crisis.”


The two returned from his parents’ home in Saint Anthony, Idaho, the next day, and she brought him into St. John’s Medical Center, where she works as a registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit. After a series of tests — an ultrasound, blood tests, more blood pressure readings — Stevan Davis was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease.


If it weren’t for that one reading, he wouldn’t have known. The pain associated with the disease — back pain, lethargy, vomiting — didn’t come until about seven years later. This fall he was told each of his kidneys had enlarged to about the size of a football and were riddled with cysts.


His siblings were tested as potential donors, but neither proved to be a good match. The third in line was family friend Monica McNamee, who met the Davises when she joined the staff at St. John’s as a traveling nurse in 2007. She now works in the ICU with Karin Davis.


“I always thought of organ donation as a beautiful and amazing gift,” she said, “and I knew one day I wanted to donate my organs when I passed away. But I really didn’t give it much more thought than that until Stevan’s story came into play.”


She underwent four months of testing, starting with lab tests and a thorough examination of her health and family history. She was tissue typed and sent to Intermountain Medical Center outside of Salt Lake City, where she underwent two days of X-rays, CT scans and interviews. One part of her testing required she collect her urine — all of it — for 24 hours. McNamee and Karin Davis named her pee bucket the “party pail.”


“I had a dinner party that evening, so I brought it with,” McNamee said with a laugh.


Dinner, she said, was with a bunch of other nurses. Nobody minded. In November she was told she was a match.


“I was relieved and amazed and thrilled,” McNamee said. “I wanted it to work out so bad.”


With a donor lined up, Stevan Davis was ready for the first of two surgeries: a bilateral nephrectomy. When surgeons removed his kidneys in mid-January, one weighed five pounds and the other came in half a pound heavier.


It was like having a baby, his wife joked. [Read more]