From Wilson County News, Texas
Register to Walk for PKD Sept. 8
“Step out” to help fight Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) on Saturday, Sept. 8, at the San Antonio Walk for PKD at the Graff Pavilion, OP Schnabel Park, located at 9606 Bandera Road in San Antonio. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m., with the walk to follow at 9:15 a.m.
Walkers can choose to stroll a 1- or 3-mile route or cheer on the kids in a penny dash. There will be a DJ, food, door prizes, and a playground for the kids. There is no fee to register; however, participants who raise a minimum of $100 will receive an official event T-shirt.
To register, visit www.walkforpkd.org/sanantonio.
From MyPalmBeachPost, Florida, By Faran Fagen
Woman in need of kidney transplant helps others with same disease
Every morning, Susan Caplan wakes in her Boca Raton home, hoping the wait is over. That this will be the day the matching kidney is found, and her 19-year quest will be at an end.
She waits. And as she has done since her 1999 diagnosis of kidney disease, she passes the time by helping others who suffer from the same debilitating ailment.
“Being diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) was devastating,” said Caplan, 64. “I was determined to learn as much as possible about the disease, and to do all that I could to help raise awareness and help others who were not as healthy as I was at the time — about PKD and organ donation.”
One year after being diagnosed, Caplan began her 12-year volunteer tenure as volunteer coordinator of the PKD Foundation’s New York City chapter until she moved to Boca Raton in 2012. That year, she immediately became the volunteer coordinator of the foundation’s South Florida chapter, a position she still fills with passion. She also organized several walks to raise money for research.
“People email or call me all the time with questions about doctors, medications, research and I try my best to supply them with as much information as possible,” Caplan said. “I know exactly how they feel and what they need, and the community of support that we provide to each other is invaluable. No one should feel alone with polycystic kidney disease.”
Caplan was first diagnosed by accident through a routine colonoscopy. She had pain in her core area, and her gastroenterologist gave her a prescription for an MRI and told her to stop doing sit-ups at the gym. Her colonoscopy was fine, but the MRI showed mild symptoms of PKD. According to the PKD Foundation website, PKD is a chronic, genetic disease causing uncontrolled growth of cysts in the kidney, often leading to kidney failure.
She was shocked. She was teaching kindergarten in New York and felt fine. At that time, it was impossible for doctors to predict if and when Susan’s disease would progress.
“I decided to take control and help others who were not as fortunate and healthy as me,” she said. “I’m a teacher and knew I could help regular people like me become aware of how to live as best as they could with PKD.”
Caplan was hoping to return to her substitute teacher position at a local private school this school year with a new kidney. Unfortunately, she remains on the Hepatitis C Kidney Transplant List at Cleveland Clinic in Weston and the UNOS List at PennMed in Philadelphia.
She’s hoping to find a donor match as soon as possible with her blood type 0+; 0- is acceptable, too. Type 0 blood is the only option acceptable and is in high demand. This adds to the difficulty of finding a donor match. To help spread the word, she has a Facebook page and drives around with a sign on her car asking for a kidney donor to draw attention to her urgent need.
For Caplan and her husband, Steven, finding a cure for PKD is essential. One of their two sons has PKD and is so far living successfully with the disease. There are some distant worries for the future of their three grandchildren. Their hope is that medical technology and advanced research will guide the next generation to a level of successful health.
“Good things come to those who wait,” Steven Caplan often tells his wife. He accompanies her to every appointment and advocates for her. He took her to Festival Flea Market to design a “Need Kidney” T-shirt. They sit on the beach together and he sets up a “Need Kidney” sign so it can get maximum views.
“My greatest wish is that a better lifestyle and a cure is on the horizon for my son and for all others who suffer from PKD,” Susan Caplan said. “Every year, the PKD Foundation coordinates fund-raising walks around the country to help raise money to support education, advocacy, awareness, research, clinical and scientific grants and more.”
This year’s South Florida Walk for PKD will take place on Nov. 4 in Hollywood. “We hope to inspire new friends to come out and join us to help put an end to PKD.”
Susan Caplan received a call many years ago in New York from a woman whose mom had just passed away from the disease. The woman said that she now feared she would also die, and they met for a reassuring chat and a hug. She guided her to a transplant hospital, and her husband donated his kidney on her behalf. She receives a present every year on her birthday from the family.
But now it’s time to focus on her own health. Susan Caplan is determined to maintain a proactive and healthy lifestyle.
“I want to make sure I have the best opportunities to live through this disease without many complications,” she said. “I’m focused on seeing my three grandchildren go through their wonderful milestones in life.”
From WGRZ, Channel 2 NBC Affiliate, Buffalo, New York
WNY Kidney Foundation urges awareness
"Unfortunately up to one-in-seven Americans has kidney disease, but many people don't know about it," says WNY Kidney Foundation Manager, Jeremy Morlock.
Sunday morning at Buffalo's Outer Harbor marked the first ever Kidney Walk and 5K organized by the Kidney Foundation of Western New York, and it came with an important health message.
Hundreds of people took part in the event, including one man who had a kidney transplant last year at ECMC, to help give him a new chance at life after suffering from Polycystic Kidney Disease.
The foundation says it is crucial for all of us to learn more about the function of our kidneys.
"Unfortunately up to one-in-seven Americans has kidney disease, but many people don't know about it," says WNY Kidney Foundation Manager, Jeremy Morlock. "You can lose up to 90-percent of your kidney function before you necessarily develop symptoms. And so we wanna let people know what those risk factors are, that they should get screened, to talk to your doctor about kidney health."
Walkers and runners raised an estimated $39,000 for the foundation in this event.
The Kidney Foundation of Western New York offers various programs surrounding awareness, information, patient support and advocacy in the eight county area of the region. For more information you can visit their website.
Nanoparticle targets kidney disease for drug delivery
Nanoparticles move past the glomerular filtration barrier of the kidney to target diseased cells. Credit: Illustrator: Yekaterina (Katya) Kadyshevskaya from the USC Bridge Institute at the Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience
Remember the scene in the movie Mission: Impossible when Tom Cruise has to sneak into the vault? He had to do all sorts of moves to avoid detection. That's what it's like to sneak a targeted drug into a kidney and keep it from getting eliminated from the body.
Since kidneys are the filtering agents in our body, they are keen to get rid of small particles that they sense do not belong. And if the kidney does not filter out a particle, excreting it through urine, it may be eliminated by the liver, which uses macrophages to search for and get rid of foreign bodies.
Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, along with colleagues from the Keck School of Medicine at USC, have engineered peptide nanoparticles to outsmart the biological system and target the kidney cells. The innovation may prove critical to addressing chronic kidney disease.
One out of three Americans will have chronic kidney disease in their lifetime. To date, there have been few solutions for advanced kidney disease beyond dialysis and kidney transplant—both of which are incredibly expensive and taxing. Previously, doctors would also have to prescribe heavy doses of medication as they hoped some of the medication would be able to reach and target the kidney. However, this heavy dosing had adverse effects on other organs in the body.
While targeted drug delivery has long been an area of concentration for cancer research, nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery for the kidneys has largely gone unexplored, says the study's lead author, Eun Ji Chung, a WiSE Gabilan Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Nephrology and Hypertension at USC and a professor in the new USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience.
Essentially, the researchers took several months to create their kidney targeting particle. This nanoparticle is a micelle, which is 10-20 times smaller than a traditional nanoparticle. This particular micelle is synthesized from a peptide chain that is formulated from lysine and glutamic acids. The extra small size of the nanoparticle allows passage into the kidneys through the initial barrier of kidney filtration while the peptide allows the nanoparticle to stay in the kidneys and potentially unload a drug at the site of the disease without getting removed by the urine. In this way, the researchers are taking advantage of a natural mechanism of the body to target the kidneys, and can minimize systemic off-target side effects that are characteristic to most kidney drugs.
Results of In Vivo Testing:
The researchers injected mice with fluorescent-labeled nanoparticles. They found that the nanoparticles they had engineered were more present in the kidney than other parts of the body. These particles thus could carry drugs more selectively than previous tests by other researchers. Furthermore, these biocompatible, bio-degradable particles were able to clear out of the body in less than one week and would not damage other organs.
The study "Design and in vivo characterization of kidney-targeting multimodal micelles for renal drug delivery," was conducted by Eun Ji Chung, Jonathan Wang, Christopher Poon, Deborah Chin, Sarah Milkowski, Vivian Lu at the Viterbi School of Engineering; and Kenneth R. Hallows of the Keck School of Medicine at USC. It was featured in the journal Nano Research and Professor Chung was selected as a Young Innovator in Nanobiotechnology from the journal.
Walkers can choose to stroll a 1- or 3-mile route or cheer on the kids in a penny dash. There will be a DJ, food, door prizes, and a playground for the kids. There is no fee to register; however, participants who raise a minimum of $100 will receive an official event T-shirt.
To register, visit www.walkforpkd.org/sanantonio.
From MyPalmBeachPost, Florida, By Faran Fagen
Woman in need of kidney transplant helps others with same disease
Every morning, Susan Caplan wakes in her Boca Raton home, hoping the wait is over. That this will be the day the matching kidney is found, and her 19-year quest will be at an end.
She waits. And as she has done since her 1999 diagnosis of kidney disease, she passes the time by helping others who suffer from the same debilitating ailment.
“Being diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) was devastating,” said Caplan, 64. “I was determined to learn as much as possible about the disease, and to do all that I could to help raise awareness and help others who were not as healthy as I was at the time — about PKD and organ donation.”
One year after being diagnosed, Caplan began her 12-year volunteer tenure as volunteer coordinator of the PKD Foundation’s New York City chapter until she moved to Boca Raton in 2012. That year, she immediately became the volunteer coordinator of the foundation’s South Florida chapter, a position she still fills with passion. She also organized several walks to raise money for research.
“People email or call me all the time with questions about doctors, medications, research and I try my best to supply them with as much information as possible,” Caplan said. “I know exactly how they feel and what they need, and the community of support that we provide to each other is invaluable. No one should feel alone with polycystic kidney disease.”
Caplan was first diagnosed by accident through a routine colonoscopy. She had pain in her core area, and her gastroenterologist gave her a prescription for an MRI and told her to stop doing sit-ups at the gym. Her colonoscopy was fine, but the MRI showed mild symptoms of PKD. According to the PKD Foundation website, PKD is a chronic, genetic disease causing uncontrolled growth of cysts in the kidney, often leading to kidney failure.
She was shocked. She was teaching kindergarten in New York and felt fine. At that time, it was impossible for doctors to predict if and when Susan’s disease would progress.
“I decided to take control and help others who were not as fortunate and healthy as me,” she said. “I’m a teacher and knew I could help regular people like me become aware of how to live as best as they could with PKD.”
Caplan was hoping to return to her substitute teacher position at a local private school this school year with a new kidney. Unfortunately, she remains on the Hepatitis C Kidney Transplant List at Cleveland Clinic in Weston and the UNOS List at PennMed in Philadelphia.
She’s hoping to find a donor match as soon as possible with her blood type 0+; 0- is acceptable, too. Type 0 blood is the only option acceptable and is in high demand. This adds to the difficulty of finding a donor match. To help spread the word, she has a Facebook page and drives around with a sign on her car asking for a kidney donor to draw attention to her urgent need.
For Caplan and her husband, Steven, finding a cure for PKD is essential. One of their two sons has PKD and is so far living successfully with the disease. There are some distant worries for the future of their three grandchildren. Their hope is that medical technology and advanced research will guide the next generation to a level of successful health.
“Good things come to those who wait,” Steven Caplan often tells his wife. He accompanies her to every appointment and advocates for her. He took her to Festival Flea Market to design a “Need Kidney” T-shirt. They sit on the beach together and he sets up a “Need Kidney” sign so it can get maximum views.
“My greatest wish is that a better lifestyle and a cure is on the horizon for my son and for all others who suffer from PKD,” Susan Caplan said. “Every year, the PKD Foundation coordinates fund-raising walks around the country to help raise money to support education, advocacy, awareness, research, clinical and scientific grants and more.”
This year’s South Florida Walk for PKD will take place on Nov. 4 in Hollywood. “We hope to inspire new friends to come out and join us to help put an end to PKD.”
Susan Caplan received a call many years ago in New York from a woman whose mom had just passed away from the disease. The woman said that she now feared she would also die, and they met for a reassuring chat and a hug. She guided her to a transplant hospital, and her husband donated his kidney on her behalf. She receives a present every year on her birthday from the family.
But now it’s time to focus on her own health. Susan Caplan is determined to maintain a proactive and healthy lifestyle.
“I want to make sure I have the best opportunities to live through this disease without many complications,” she said. “I’m focused on seeing my three grandchildren go through their wonderful milestones in life.”
From WGRZ, Channel 2 NBC Affiliate, Buffalo, New York
WNY Kidney Foundation urges awareness
Sunday morning at Buffalo's Outer Harbor marked the first ever Kidney Walk and 5K organized by the Kidney Foundation of Western New York, and it came with an important health message.
Hundreds of people took part in the event, including one man who had a kidney transplant last year at ECMC, to help give him a new chance at life after suffering from Polycystic Kidney Disease.
The foundation says it is crucial for all of us to learn more about the function of our kidneys.
"Unfortunately up to one-in-seven Americans has kidney disease, but many people don't know about it," says WNY Kidney Foundation Manager, Jeremy Morlock. "You can lose up to 90-percent of your kidney function before you necessarily develop symptoms. And so we wanna let people know what those risk factors are, that they should get screened, to talk to your doctor about kidney health."
Walkers and runners raised an estimated $39,000 for the foundation in this event.
The Kidney Foundation of Western New York offers various programs surrounding awareness, information, patient support and advocacy in the eight county area of the region. For more information you can visit their website.
PKD Research
From Phys.Org,, source: University of Southern California, Bridge Institute
Since kidneys are the filtering agents in our body, they are keen to get rid of small particles that they sense do not belong. And if the kidney does not filter out a particle, excreting it through urine, it may be eliminated by the liver, which uses macrophages to search for and get rid of foreign bodies.
Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, along with colleagues from the Keck School of Medicine at USC, have engineered peptide nanoparticles to outsmart the biological system and target the kidney cells. The innovation may prove critical to addressing chronic kidney disease.
One out of three Americans will have chronic kidney disease in their lifetime. To date, there have been few solutions for advanced kidney disease beyond dialysis and kidney transplant—both of which are incredibly expensive and taxing. Previously, doctors would also have to prescribe heavy doses of medication as they hoped some of the medication would be able to reach and target the kidney. However, this heavy dosing had adverse effects on other organs in the body.
While targeted drug delivery has long been an area of concentration for cancer research, nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery for the kidneys has largely gone unexplored, says the study's lead author, Eun Ji Chung, a WiSE Gabilan Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, and Nephrology and Hypertension at USC and a professor in the new USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience.
Essentially, the researchers took several months to create their kidney targeting particle. This nanoparticle is a micelle, which is 10-20 times smaller than a traditional nanoparticle. This particular micelle is synthesized from a peptide chain that is formulated from lysine and glutamic acids. The extra small size of the nanoparticle allows passage into the kidneys through the initial barrier of kidney filtration while the peptide allows the nanoparticle to stay in the kidneys and potentially unload a drug at the site of the disease without getting removed by the urine. In this way, the researchers are taking advantage of a natural mechanism of the body to target the kidneys, and can minimize systemic off-target side effects that are characteristic to most kidney drugs.
Results of In Vivo Testing:
The researchers injected mice with fluorescent-labeled nanoparticles. They found that the nanoparticles they had engineered were more present in the kidney than other parts of the body. These particles thus could carry drugs more selectively than previous tests by other researchers. Furthermore, these biocompatible, bio-degradable particles were able to clear out of the body in less than one week and would not damage other organs.
The study "Design and in vivo characterization of kidney-targeting multimodal micelles for renal drug delivery," was conducted by Eun Ji Chung, Jonathan Wang, Christopher Poon, Deborah Chin, Sarah Milkowski, Vivian Lu at the Viterbi School of Engineering; and Kenneth R. Hallows of the Keck School of Medicine at USC. It was featured in the journal Nano Research and Professor Chung was selected as a Young Innovator in Nanobiotechnology from the journal.
