75: Immune Cells in a Sick Environment

Immune Cells in a Sick Environment: Lymphocyte Function in Chronic Kidney Disease ($45,588) – Associate Professor Dominic Geraghty

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a debilitating and eventually fatal disorder unless a successful transplant can be peformed. In addition to problems with blood pressure control, the immune system, which fights infection is severely impaired in CKD patients. The aim of the proposed study is to investigate whether a novel protein (TRPV1) that causes cells to die in other diseases, may be responsible for impaired immune cell function and reduced immune cell numbers in CKD. To do this, immune cells will be obtained from a) volunteers without CKD (controls); b) CKD patients not yet requiring dialysis and c) CKD patients on dialysis. The imune cells will then be sorted into different types and the amount of TRPV1 contained within them measured. The immune function of the different cell types from CKD patients and controls will also be assessed and compared. If altered TRPV1 levels are found to contribute to impaired immune function in CKD patients, it may be possible to use medicines to block the action of TRPV1 and improve the quality of life of these chronically ill people.