Kidney research, 2026-09-04
A quiet research day, with one study on pregnancy and inherited kidney cysts
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That study can only show a link, not prove that the kidney disease caused any difference, so treat it as a starting point for a conversation with your own care team.
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Most of what came in today was review articles that gather up older work rather than new findings, including one on FGF23, a hormone that manages phosphate and rises early in kidney disease.
Today brought no strong new results for people living with stage 3 kidney disease. The one original study covered pregnancy outcomes in polycystic kidney disease, an inherited condition that runs in families, and it earned a middling evidence grade because it observed what happened rather than testing a treatment. The rest of the sweep was review articles and papers that only mentioned kidneys in passing. Days like this are normal, and a thin day is worth reporting honestly rather than dressing up.
Urine dipstick test for assessing albumin-to-creatinine ratio: a pilot study and the potential impact on chronic kidney disease screening
A small first-look study tested whether a cheap urine dipstick can stand in for the lab test that measures protein in the urine against creatinine, the standard way to catch kidney...
Temporal sequence in chronic kidney disease risk assessment in primary biliary cholangitis
This study looked at when kidney disease shows up in people who have primary biliary cholangitis, a long-term liver disease that damages the bile ducts. The point was to work out...
A metabolomics and machine learning-based predictive model for AKI-to-CKD progression risk
This team built a computer model that uses body chemistry readings from blood or urine to guess who will go from a sudden kidney injury to long-term kidney disease. The model was...
Predictive Value of Urine Tubular Biomarkers on Kidney Outcomes
Researchers looked at whether proteins in the urine that leak from damaged kidney tubes can predict how someone's kidneys do later on. This is an observational study, so it shows a...
Necroptosis–senescence crosstalk in tubulointerstitial fibrosis: the mtDNA–cGAS–STING–PFKFB3 axis as a metabolic bridge
This is a review paper about how kidney cells die and age, and how that leads to scarring in the kidney filter tubes. It walks through a chain of molecules that starts when damaged...
Gli inibitori di SGLT2 nel diabete di tipo 1: è tempo di rivalutarne il ruolo
This Italian-language article argues it is time to reconsider SGLT2 inhibitors for people with type 1 diabetes. These drugs clearly protect the kidneys in type 2 diabetes, but in...
Animal Models of Hyperoxaluria and Their Relevance for Fundamental Research and Clinical Practice
This review compares the animal models used to study hyperoxaluria, a condition where the body makes or absorbs too much oxalate and it damages the kidneys. It sets out which...
Insulin resistance and uric acid-related metabolic disturbances jointly identify individuals at high risk of advanced cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome: a population-based study
This study checked two things in a large group of adults: how well their bodies respond to insulin, and their uric acid level. People who had trouble with both were far more likely...
Indoxyl sulfate–associated vascular calcification is linked to mTORC1 and ER stress–integrated stress response signaling
Indoxyl sulfate is a waste product that failing kidneys cannot clear well, and it builds up and hardens blood vessels. This lab work traced how it does that, pointing to two stress...
Longitudinal assessment of glomerular and tubular kidney function after COVID-19: a prospective cohort study
This study followed people after COVID-19 and repeatedly measured two parts of kidney work: the filtering rate (eGFR) and how well the tubes that reabsorb fluid are doing. It found...
Rituximab therapy achieves comparable remission to cyclophosphamide in ANCA-associated vasculitis with severe KIDNEY involvement
ANCA-associated vasculitis is an immune disease that attacks small blood vessels, including those in the kidneys. This study compared two drugs used to calm it down: rituximab and...
Tonsillar Tfh cells contribute to the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy in collaboration with memory B cells
IgA nephropathy is a kidney disease where a protein called IgA builds up in the kidney's filters and damages them. This lab study looked at immune cells taken from tonsils and...
Disproportionate reporting of euglycaemic and diabetic ketoacidosis with SGLT-2 inhibitors across expanding cardiorenal indications: a cross-database study of FAERS and JADER
Researchers searched two large drug side effect databases, one in the United States and one in Japan, and found ketoacidosis reported more often than expected with SGLT2 inhibitor...
Characteristics associated with efficacy of hypoxia-inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors in renal anemia patients: a retrospective cohort study
Doctors looked back at patients taking HIF-PHI pills, a newer treatment for the low blood count that comes with kidney disease, to work out who responds best. The study reports...
Systemic immune-inflammation index as a prognostic marker in heart failure with non-dialysis chronic kidney disease: a two-cohort derivation and validation study with head-to-head comparison against natriuretic peptides
In people who have both heart failure and kidney disease but are not on dialysis, a simple inflammation score from a routine blood count predicted who did worse. The researchers...
Serum uric acid in pediatric metabolic assessment: the scientific rationale for routine screening and the urgent need for age- and sex-specific diagnostic thresholds
The authors argue that uric acid, a waste product in the blood, should be checked routinely in children during metabolic testing. They say the current cutoffs for normal are wrong...
Poor prognosis of acute kidney injury superimposed on chronic kidney disease: potential mechanisms, risk factors and novel biomarkers
A review of why people with long-term kidney disease do so badly when a sudden kidney injury lands on top of it. The authors walk through the likely causes, who is most at risk,...
Endocrine regulation of uromodulin in aging
This is a review article about uromodulin, a protein made only by the kidney, and how hormones control it as people age. Uromodulin levels roughly track how much healthy kidney...
Increased mechanical load remodels the glomerular matrix and accelerates Alport kidney disease: processed data and analysis code
Researchers posted the data and analysis code behind a study of Alport syndrome, an inherited kidney disease. The work found that extra mechanical stress on the kidney's tiny...
Macrophage FOXO1 Inhibition Protects Against Hyperglycaemia‐Associated Kidney Injury
Blocking a protein called FOXO1 inside immune cells known as macrophages protected kidneys from damage caused by high blood sugar. This work was done in animals and cells, not in...
Advanced chronic kidney disease in children with CAKUT: a retrospective cohort study in Senegal
This study looked back at medical records of children in Senegal born with malformed kidneys or urinary tracts, a group of conditions called CAKUT. It tracked how many went on to...
Acute Kidney Injury and Rapidly Progressive Glomerulonephritis in Acute Post-Streptococcal and Post-Infectious Glomerulonephritis: Pooled Prevalence, Age-Related Risk and Prognostic Determinants — A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
This study pools many earlier studies of kidney inflammation that follows a strep throat or other infection, a condition seen mostly in children. It reports how often that leads to...
Goal-Directed Therapy to Reduce Kidney and Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetic Kidney Disease (GOLD-STANDARD)
A new trial is starting for adults with type 2 diabetes and kidney damage from diabetes who also face higher heart risk. It tests treating heart, kidney and metabolic risks...
Role of mitochondria-associated ER membranes in lipid metabolism: implications for renal lipotoxicity.
This review explains how fat handling goes wrong inside kidney cells and may drive damage in diabetic kidney disease, sudden kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. It focuses on...
Safety and Glycemic Efficacy of Perioperative Liraglutide in Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
This is a pooled analysis of randomized trials, searched through September 2025, testing the GLP-1 drug liraglutide for blood sugar control around heart surgery. High blood sugar...
Early laboratory trajectories and short-term tolerability after finerenone initiationin diabetic kidney disease: the multicenter FINE-TURK study.
Doctors in Turkey looked back at hospital records of adults with diabetes and kidney disease who started finerenone, a drug that blocks a hormone signal that scars the kidney. They...
The Cardio-Renal-Hepatic Axis in MASLD. Role of BDNF, NGF, and Metabolic Cross-Talk.
This review looks at how fatty liver disease harms the heart and kidneys together. Fat building up in the liver appears to trigger heart damage and kidney damage through shared...
[Development and validation of an interpretable machine learning model for stage prediction of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury].
Researchers built a computer model to predict how severe sudden kidney injury will get in intensive care patients with sepsis, a life threatening reaction to infection. They used...
Comparing outcomes using low-dose apixaban and anti-Xa monitoring and vitamin K antagonists in patients with renal replacement therapy.
This hospital record review compared two blood thinners in people with kidney failure on dialysis: warfarin type drugs, and low dose apixaban at 2.5 mg twice a day with blood level...
Long-term outcomes associated with continued use of ARBs versus CCBs in older adults: a landmark cohort study.
This study compared two kinds of blood pressure drugs in older adults in Japan who had already been on treatment for a long time: ARBs, the class usually chosen to protect kidneys,...
Calcified amorphous tumor in a patient receiving peritoneal dialysis with severe, treatment-refractory hyperphosphatemia.
One patient on peritoneal dialysis, whose blood phosphate stayed very high despite treatment, developed a rare hard calcium mass inside the heart. Doctors believe disturbed calcium...
A Clinically Aligned Two-Stage Machine Learning Framework for Predicting Hungry Bone Syndrome After Parathyroidectomy.
People with long-term kidney disease often develop overactive parathyroid glands, and surgery to remove them can trigger hungry bone syndrome, where blood calcium falls sharply for...
Serum and Urine Metabolite Profiling Combined With Network Pharmacology to Predict the Renoprotective Mechanism of Huangkui Capsule Against Acute Kidney Injury.
Huangkui capsule is a plant extract used in China for long-term kidney disease. Researchers gave it to rats, measured which of its compounds showed up in blood and urine, and used...
Lithium-Induced Nephropathy in Bipolar Disorder: A Clinical Concern
This is a review article on how lithium, a common long-term treatment for bipolar disorder, can damage the kidneys over years of use. The damage can include a drop in the kidney...
Uncontrolled Hypertension in Cardio-Renal-Metabolic Diseases: Real-World Insights on Patient Profiles and Management Patterns From iCaReMe Global Registry.
This is a snapshot of real patients from many countries who have high blood pressure along with type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or heart failure. It counted how many still...
Differential associations of febuxostat and allopurinol with incident and worsening frailty risk in nephrology patients.
Researchers looked back at 19,389 adults seen in kidney clinics at one Taiwan medical center between 2013 and 2021. They compared two common drugs that lower uric acid, febuxostat...
Bone turnover biomarkers and semi-quantitative bone histomorphometry in chronic kidney disease: Comparison between patients with and without fractures.
People with chronic kidney disease break bones more often than their bone density scores predict. This study in India compared routine blood tests of bone turnover, meaning how...
Inflammation as a therapeutic target to improve kidney and cardiovascular outcomes
Kidney disease keeps the body in a state of constant low level inflammation. That inflammation damages the kidneys, clogs arteries, and strains the heart. This is a review article:...
Metformin-Associated Lactic Acidosis and Relative Euglycemic Ketoacidosis Precipitated by a Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist: A Case Report and Literature Review.
A person taking metformin for diabetes became severely ill with acid buildup in the blood after starting a GLP-1 drug. This complication is rare, fewer than 10 cases per 100,000...
Efficacy and safety of canagliflozin are consistent across polypharmacy burden in CKD: the CREDENCE trial.
Canagliflozin is one of the SGLT2 drugs that slow kidney decline. Researchers went back to CREDENCE, a large randomized trial in people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, and...
SGLT2 inhibitor ameliorates hypertension by regulating the CYP4A/20-HETE pathway in the kidney.
SGLT2 drugs lower blood pressure, and this study asked how they do it. The drug acted on a chemical pathway inside the kidney, called CYP4A and 20-HETE, that helps set blood...
Elevated urinary angiotensinogen excretion links incidence of chronic kidney disease among community-dwelling population: The Aging Kidney Study.
Researchers followed adults in the community who did not have kidney disease and measured a protein called angiotensinogen in their urine. Higher levels came before new cases of...
FDA label: 1 INDICATIONS AND USAGE Ferric carboxymaltose injection is i
This is the FDA label for ferric carboxymaltose, an iron injection. It is approved for iron deficiency anemia in adults with chronic kidney disease who are not yet on dialysis, and...
Use of fixed-ratio combination of basal insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in Asians with type 2 diabetes.
This review looks at putting long-acting insulin and a GLP-1 drug into a single fixed-dose shot for people in Asia with type 2 diabetes. It notes that in past trials, people of...
Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 (FGF23): From Synthesis to Cleavage.
FGF23 is a hormone made in bone that tells the kidneys to flush out extra phosphate, a mineral that comes from food. This review explains how the body builds FGF23, how the kidney...
Obstetric outcomes in pregnancies complicated by polycystic kidney disease.
Polycystic kidney disease is an inherited condition where fluid-filled sacs grow in the kidneys and slowly damage how well they filter. The common adult form often causes no...
Acute phosphate-salt exposure is associated with attenuation of the albumin-producing phenotype, HNF4A down-regulation, and ERK activation in HepaRG cells
Researchers exposed human liver cells in a dish to phosphate salt, the kind used as an additive in packaged food. The cells made less albumin, the main protein in blood, and a...
Physical exercise and circulating α-Klotho in humans: a systematic review and meta-analysis with emphasis on older adults
Klotho is a protein made mostly by the kidneys, and low levels track with faster kidney decline and aging. This review pooled the results of many exercise studies in people and...
What dietary and lifestyle interventions are effective in preventing kidney disease in patients with diabetes?
This asks which diet and lifestyle changes keep people with diabetes from developing kidney disease in the first place. It was posted to an open file archive rather than published...
Fostering Self-Empowerment in CKD Patients Through Food Choice Mapping
Researchers in Singapore are mapping which restaurant meals fit a kidney diet. They plan to turn that map into a phone app and test it with people who have chronic kidney disease....
Di(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate Exposure and Risk of Diabetic Kidney Disease: Epidemiological Association and Mechanistic Insights.
Researchers used a large US national health survey to test whether exposure to DEHP, a chemical that softens plastic and turns up in food packaging and medical tubing, lines up...
Acute kidney injury and liver damage are the most common forms of end organ damage in exertional heat illness in otherwise healthy young adults.
Doctors reviewed emergency room admissions of otherwise healthy young adults who overheated during sport or work. Sudden kidney injury and liver damage were the most common types...
Beyond Kidney Function: A Neuro-Renal Perspective on Personalized Care in Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease
This is a review article about caring for children with long-term kidney disease. It argues that doctors should watch brain and nerve effects, such as trouble with attention,...
Sanjiao Acupuncture Combined with Abdominal Massage for Restless Legs Syndrome in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
88 people on regular hemodialysis with moderate to severe restless legs syndrome were split into two equal groups of 44. One group got Sanjiao acupuncture, the other got the same...
Illness perception and insomnia among patients with maintenance hemodialysis: a moderated mediation model of fear of progression and self-compassion.
Researchers surveyed 332 people on regular hemodialysis in Chongqing, China, between January and May 2025. About 56 percent of them had insomnia. People who saw their illness as...
Alignment of Micrometer-Scale Electrospun Fibers Does Not Enhance Performance of Primary Human Renal Proximal Tubular Epithelial Cells.
Researchers grew human kidney tubule cells on very thin man made fibers, testing whether lining the fibers up in one direction helped. It did not: aligned fibers worked no better...
Generation of the functionally enhanced proximal tubular cells from human iPSC-derived kidney organoids.
Scientists turned human stem cells into small lab grown kidney tissue balls, then pulled out the filtering tube cells and made them work better. Two additions did the trick: a...
Multiparametric MRI for Early Chronic Kidney Disease Detection: Insights Into Renal Microcirculation.
Blood flow in the kidney's tiny vessels gets worse early, before standard blood tests show the kidney filtering rate (eGFR) dropping. This study checked whether an MRI scan that...
Impact of antibody-mediated rejection detected on one-year protocol biopsies on long-term kidney allograft survival
Doctors took a small sample of the transplanted kidney one year after surgery, even in people who seemed fine. Some samples showed the body's antibodies quietly attacking the new...
Limited Sampling Strategies for Predicting Tacrolimus Systemic Exposure After Adult Kidney Transplantation: A Narrative Review
After a kidney transplant, people take tacrolimus to stop the body rejecting the new kidney, and the blood level has to be watched closely. Getting a true picture normally means...
Epidemiology of dyslipidemiia in patients after kidney transplantation (EDYS-AKT 2025): results of a multicenter retrospective cohort study
Doctors at several hospitals looked back through records to see how common high cholesterol and blood fats are in people after a kidney transplant. Looking back at old records can...
Kidney transplantation in children with extended ilio-caval thrombosis
Doctors report on kidney transplants in children whose large abdominal veins are blocked by old blood clots. That blockage makes the surgery much harder, because the new kidney has...
HHV-8 Infection in Solid-Organ Transplant-Pathogenesis, Epidemiology, Clinical Manifestations and Management.
A review of HHV-8, a herpes virus that can cause cancers and severe whole-body inflammation in people who have received a transplanted organ, kidneys included. Anti-rejection drugs...
Orthotopic Porcine Liver and Kidney Xenotransplantation as a Step Toward Multi-Organ Replacement.
Researchers report placing pig livers and pig kidneys into the normal body position of a recipient, as a step toward replacing more than one organ at once. This record has no...
Immune Regulatory Signatures Associated with Different Recovery Durations of Delayed Graft Function after Kidney Transplantation.
After a kidney transplant, some new kidneys are slow to start working, which doctors call delayed graft function. Researchers sorted patients by how long that slow start lasted,...
Evolutionary logic and governance mechanisms of China's non-public hemodialysis centres (2009--2026): a mixed-methods policy analysis extending Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework
China's private dialysis centers grew to 903 by April 2026, after the 2009 health reforms opened the door to them. This study mixes policy documents and interviews to explain why...
Projected Population-Level Impact of Digital Return of Results for Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Screening at US Blood Donation Centers: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study
US blood donation centers see millions of healthy adults who never get checked for early heart, kidney and metabolic problems. This team built a computer model to guess how many...
Diagnosis of Alport Syndrome by Kidney Biopsy and Electron Microscopy in a Resource-Limited Setting: A Case Report
Doctors describe diagnosing Alport syndrome, an inherited kidney disease, using a kidney biopsy and a high-powered electron microscope in a hospital with few resources. This is a...
NKF Response to Requests for Information on the ESRD Payment System
On September 4, 2026, the National Kidney Foundation answered Medicare's requests for information about how kidney failure care is paid for. It gave positions on dialysis at home,...