Kids Kidney Research

Congenital (i.e. present at birth) bladder abnormalities are often associated with kidney failure and have major clinical implications for affected individuals and considerable social implications for their families.  To understand how these devastating diseases arise, it is necessary to understand how the normal bladder grows: at present, unfortunately, little is known about specific molecules which might orchestrate and directly drive normal bladder development.  Recent studies from this laboratory showed, for the first time, that a molecule called vascular endothelial growth factor was a remarkable growth stimulus to the fetal bladder.  In the current study the manner in which this molecule stimulates bladder growth will be explored, which will also begin to define whether it might also be implicated in congenital bladder disease.  This study is seen as a prelude to a programme of work to tissue-engineer bladders for transplantation therapies for patients with malformed bladders.