Kidney research, 2026-09-14
Two new studies begin today for itchy skin and rare kidney-related skin changes
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A new trial starts today testing an anti-itch medicine for people on peritoneal dialysis who struggle with persistent itching.
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Researchers are collecting samples to study a rare condition that hardens small blood vessels in the skin of people with kidney disease.
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Kidney doctors released translated care guides and a summary of their recent meeting to help patients understand treatment options.
No major new results were reported today. Instead, two early-stage studies began—one for itchy skin in peritoneal dialysis patients and another for a rare skin condition linked to kidney disease. A professional kidney society also shared updated care guides and meeting notes in multiple languages to support patient understanding.
Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease in CKD: Contemporary Insights into Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Management.
This review explains why people with kidney disease are much more likely to die from heart problems than from kidney failure itself — due to a mix of standard risks like high blood...
AI-assisted metabolomic profiling identifies candidate metabolites associated with diabetic kidney disease staging in a Korean cohort
Researchers in Korea used computer analysis to scan blood chemicals and find ones that line up with how far diabetic kidney disease has progressed. Diabetic kidney disease is...
Acute kidney injury in hospitalized COVID-19 patients: predictors, risk factors, mortality, and renal recovery from a bi-center cohort in Palestine
Doctors at two hospitals in Palestine reviewed COVID-19 patients to see how many had sudden kidney injury, what made it more likely, how many died, and how many got kidney function...
CHANGES OF CALCIFICATION GRADIENTS DEPENDING ON FETUIN-A LEVEL IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE
This study looks at calcium building up in the blood vessels of people with chronic kidney disease, and how that tracks with blood levels of a protein called fetuin-A that normally...
A shared immunological context underlying IgA nephropathy
This report looks at the immune system's role in IgA nephropathy, a kidney disease where an antibody called IgA builds up in the kidney filters and causes damage. It appears in a...
Early mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism for end-organ protection in hypertension: Implications for disparities and rethinking the timing paradigm.
A review found that Black patients often suffer more heart and kidney damage from high blood pressure, even when their numbers are in the target range. This suggests that...
Effects of Renin-Angiotensin Inhibitors, Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors, Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists and Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists on Kidney Outcomes in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
A large review of many studies found SGLT-2 inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists all lower the risk of kidney failure in people with type...
Disruption of cellular iron homeostasis by SRPX2-IRP1 interaction aggravates renal fibrosis in chronic kidney disease
In test tubes and mice, a protein called SRPX2 binds to iron-handling proteins and worsens kidney scarring. This was not tested in people — it is early lab work that may lead to...
Biochanin A ameliorates vancomycin-induced acute kidney injury via modulation of the JAK2/STAT-3/GPX4 axis
In rats given high-dose vancomycin (an antibiotic), a plant compound called biochanin A lowered kidney injury markers by affecting cellular stress pathways. This has not been...
Triple Renal Pathology in a Patient With Myeloperoxidase-Associated Vasculitis, Diabetic Nephropathy, and Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy: A Case Report
Doctors describe one patient whose kidneys were being damaged by three diseases at once: blood vessel inflammation, diabetes damage, and IgA nephropathy, where an immune protein...
PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE: CURRENT CONCEPTS OF STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHANGES
This is a review of what chronic kidney disease does to the structure of the kidney over time, including scarring and the loss of working filters. It gathers ideas that are already...
Serum uric acid as an independent associated factor of early-stage renal impairment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a comparative cross-sectional study
In people with type 2 diabetes, those with more uric acid in their blood were more likely to show early signs of kidney damage. Uric acid is a waste product the kidneys clear out....
Distribution of Homocysteine Levels in Type 2 Diabetes Patients and Its Association with Urine Albumin Creatinine Ratio: A Cross-sectional Study
In people with type 2 diabetes, researchers measured homocysteine, an amino acid in the blood, and compared it with how much protein (albumin) was leaking into the urine. Higher...
Associations of Growth Differentiation Factor 15 in Chronic Kidney Disease.
GDF-15 is a protein in the blood that dampens appetite. Researchers measured it in 2,996 people with kidney disease who were not on dialysis, then scored their appetite with a...
Impact of Chronic Kidney Disease Severity on Outcomes in STEMI-Associated Cardiogenic Shock Requiring Mechanical Circulatory Support.
People with kidney disease do worse after a major heart attack that drops their blood pressure dangerously low, a state called cardiogenic shock. This study looked at patients who...
Integrating machine learning and GWAS for variant prioritization in the INCIPE cohort highlights ABC transporter genes in chronic kidney disease
Researchers combined a genome-wide scan with machine learning to sort through gene variants in the INCIPE study group and pick out the ones most likely to matter in kidney disease....
Mean Platelet Volume and Mean Platelet Volume-to-Platelet Ratio and Their Association With Mortality in Patients Undergoing Maintenance Hemodialysis
Platelets are the blood cells that form clots, and routine blood tests already report their average size. This study checked whether that size, and the ratio of size to platelet...
Calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals increase protein cargo loading in small extracellular vesicles secreted from renal proximal tubular epithelial cells that further induce renal fibroblast activation via endocytosis
Kidney stone crystals made of calcium oxalate may do more damage than blocking the plumbing. In this lab work, kidney tubule cells exposed to these crystals released tiny bubbles...
Contrast-induced nephropathy in endovascular surgery: current strategies and new potential
The dye used to make blood vessels visible during surgery can injure the kidneys, a problem called contrast-induced nephropathy. This article reviews the current ways doctors try...
A model of recurrent heat stress that causes kidney disease in mice.
Scientists created a new mouse model where repeated heat stress and dehydration cause chronic kidney disease, mimicking what happens in outdoor workers. This was done to study how...
Temporal Changes in Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction After Initiating Hemodialysis.
In 278 people who started dialysis, heart pumping ability (called LVEF) often dropped over time — especially in the first year. This study shows a link between starting dialysis...
Efficacy and Safety of Nalfurafine Hydrochloride ODT for Moderate-to-Severe Pruritus in Patients on Peritoneal Dialysis
A new trial is starting to test nalfurafine, a pill that calms the nerve signals behind itching, in people on peritoneal dialysis. Severe itching is common in dialysis and there...
Partners Calciphylaxis Biobank
This is a biobank collecting samples from people with calciphylaxis, a rare and serious problem where calcium builds up in the tiny blood vessels of the skin. It mostly hits people...
Outcomes from the ISN International Expert Forum on cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic care published in KI - International Society of Nephrology
Heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and obesity usually travel together, but care for each is often given separately. A group of experts met in October 2025 to work out how to...
Implementation of Health Education Regarding Health Status and Nutrition for Adolescents to Increase Knowledge and Awareness of Kidney Failure Prevention
Teenagers were given health and nutrition lessons about how to protect their kidneys, and the program measured whether their knowledge and awareness went up. What it tracked was...
Occupational heatstroke-induced acute kidney injury: a narrative review of mechanisms, biomarkers, and the timing of blood purification initiation.
This review explains how heatstroke from hard physical work can injure kidneys through muscle breakdown and protein release, and how blood filtering timing might matter. Because it...
Age and Gender-Related Trajectories of Urine Osmolality in a Large-Scale Population Study: Physiological Mechanisms and Clinical Implications.
In over 128,000 people across Asia, urine concentration ability changes with age and differs by gender — older adults and men tend to have weaker kidney concentrating power. This...
City design for kidney health
A review article says city planning — like roads, housing, and air quality rules — affects kidney health across whole populations. This is not proof that changing cities fixes...
Cognitive Impairment Across Kidney Replacement Therapies: A Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Based Comparative Study.
Trouble with memory and thinking is common in kidney failure and often goes unnoticed. This study compared four groups: people on hemodialysis, people on peritoneal dialysis,...
CDK4/6 Inhibitor Abemaciclib Arrests and Reverses Kidney Cyst Progression in Preclinical Models of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease.
In test tubes and mice with inherited kidney cysts, a cancer drug called abemaciclib stopped cysts from growing and even reduced them by targeting a protein involved in cell...
Tear-Based Dynamic Network Biomarkers for Pre-Disease Detection of Hyperuricemic Nephropathy via Smart Contact Lens
Researchers built a smart contact lens that reads chemical markers in tears, aiming to catch kidney damage caused by high uric acid before it shows up as disease. Uric acid is a...
An Interpretable Machine Learning Technique for Chronic Kidney Disease Diagnosis Using Clinical Data
Researchers built a computer program that tries to spot chronic kidney disease from routine clinical data like blood tests. The tool is built to show its reasoning instead of just...
Beta-caryophyllene reduces lung inflammation secondary to chronic kidney disease
A lab study in cells or animals found that beta-caryophyllene — a natural compound in some plants — reduced lung inflammation linked to chronic kidney disease. This was not tested...
Outcome after renal transplantation utilizing octogenarian donors- retrospective single-center analysis within the Eurotransplant region.
There are not enough donor kidneys, and long waits make older patients sicker. European programs now accept kidneys from donors in their 80s to shorten those waits. This hospital...
Preoperative renin-angiotensin system inhibitor management and acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis
A large review of many studies found that stopping renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (like lisinopril or losartan) before heart surgery raises the risk of sudden kidney injury by...
Longitudinal Metabolic Risk Factors Are Associated With Microvascular Complications
A study of over 10,000 people with type 1 diabetes found that long-term spikes in blood sugar, blood pressure, and weight were linked to higher chances of eye, nerve, or kidney...
Global, regional, and national burden of urolithiasis among children and adolescents, 1990–2021, with forecasts to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
Researchers estimated how common kidney stones were in children and teenagers in every country from 1990 to 2021, and projected the trend out to 2050. The work pools existing...
Vascular Access Surgery Timing : Kidney360
A study of older European dialysis patients found that high blood pressure often gets worse over time and is linked to higher risk of heart problems or death. Because it only...
Demographics, longitudinal changes and outcome of high blood pressure in children and adolescents on kidney replacement therapy: 15 years of data from the ESPN/ERA Registry
A 15-year look at 6,071 children and teens on dialysis across Europe found that high blood pressure is very common and tends to get worse over time. Children with higher blood...
Share practical kidney care tools with primary care colleagues, now available in additional languages - International Society of Nephrology
The International Society of Nephrology has translated its short kidney care guides for family doctors into French and Spanish. The three guides cover things like spotting kidney...