Kids Kidney Research

Drug treatment and kidney dialysis is now so successful for even the smallest children that most paediatric patients with long-term kidney failure survive until adulthood. Drugs and dialysis are not perfect, however, because they do not stop the children developing cardiovascular disease which increases their risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke by 800 times. The first step in cardiovascular disease appears to be damage to the lining of the blood vessels and we believe that circulating factors in the blood are involved in this process, particularly two compounds called VEGF and angiopoietin which normally control vessel number and stability.

 

In this study, we will investigate vessels removed from children with long-term kidney failure during routine operations for insertion of dialysis catheters or kidney transplantation. We will measure levels of VEGF and angiopoietin in the circulation and within the removed vessels, and compare these results to other tests of cardiovascular function. We will also grow the vessels in the laboratory to test the effects of VEGF and angiopoietin on them.

 

This study will help us understand the roles of VEGF and angiopoietin in vessel damage in kidney patients. Such data may allow us to develop therapies that manipulate VEGF or angiopoietin to prevent cardiovascular disease in children (and potentially adults) with long-term kidney failure.