
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 26, 1990                   TAG: 9007260261
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FINDING COULD BE KEY IN KIDNEY DISEASE FIGHT

California and Utah researchers have succeeded in preventing one form of kidney disease in rats, potentially opening the door to prevention of kidney failure in humans.

The disease, called glomerulonephritis, is one of the most common causes of chronic kidney failure, afflicting as many as 100,000 Americans each year. Once the kidney fails, the patients must either receive a transplant or remain on dialysis for the rest of their lives at an estimated annual cost of $2.5 billion to the federal government.

Researchers from the University of Utah and the La Jolla Cancer Research Foundation in San Diego report today in the British journal Nature that glomerulonephritis in the rats is caused by excess concentrations of a hormone called transforming growth factor-beta, or TGF-B.

They found that specialized antibodies can be used to remove the hormone from the blood of the animals and thereby prevent the onset of the disease. - Los Angeles Times

by CNB