We have used similar conditional immortalization techniques to generate human glomerular endothelial cell lines.19 We are particularly interested to study the interactions of these cells with normal and mutant podocytes, also to develop three-dimensional culture systems including flow, so as to mimic as closely as possible the in vivo situation.20 Human podocyte cell lines can now be reliably propagated for study in vitro. We believe that selleck conditional immortalization provides the most reliable and representative

cell lines: we are proud of the fact that podocyte cell lines originally developed in Bristol are now in widespread use across the world and we would like to encourage other workers to reproduce our results. “
“Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), characterized by predominant or exclusive deposition of IgA1 in glomerular mesangium, is the most common primary glomerulonephritis worldwide. At present, the treatment is always limited due to the incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis of PD98059 mw IgAN. Mesangial deposited IgA1 is the common final pathway leading to glomerulonephritis and renal injury. IgA1 protease, a proteolytic enzyme with strict substrate specificity for human IgA1, may be an effective therapeutic candidate for IgAN by removing the mesangial deposited IgA1. “
“Aim:  Overseas kidney transplantation has often been reported to have unsatisfactory outcomes.

This study aims to compare post-transplantation outcomes between overseas and domestic kidney transplant (KT) recipients in Taiwan. Methods:  The Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database was used to identify 310 domestic and 643 overseas KT recipients, who survived for longer than 1 month after

the transplantation, in a cohort of 45 453 chronic haemodialysis patients in 1997–2002. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess Orotidine 5′-phosphate decarboxylase risks of mortality and graft failure. Results:  The 1, 3 and 5 year survival rates for domestic KT recipients were 96.5%, 93.3% and 91.6%, respectively, while those for overseas KT recipients were 94.9%, 87.9% and 77.1%, respectively (P = 0.015). For the overseas group, those who received a KT before 2001 had significantly higher hazard ratios of mortality and graft failure (2.85 and 1.71, respectively). However, for those receiving a KT in 2001–2002, no significant outcome difference could be found between overseas and domestic recipients. Conclusion:  The risk disparity between overseas and domestic KT recipients is mainly attributable to when the transplantation was performed. In attempting to dissuade potential recipients from organ trafficking, merely emphasizing the previously acknowledged poor outcomes no longer suffices as a valid reason. “
“Aim:  Nestin, an intermediate filament originally identified as a marker of neural progenitor cells, is transiently expressed in endothelial cells and tubuloepithelial cells during kidney development.