3-D atlas helps sufferers of kidney ailments
EU-funded researchers have created a three-dimensional (3-D), virtual 'Kidney Atlas', which they hope will eventually lead to the development of new, less expensive therapies and tests. The atlas is also expected to help doctors diagnose and treat kidney diseases quickly and effectively, and in turn, prove useful in the study of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, which often lead to kidney disease. The Kidney Atlas is an outcome of the 'European renal genome project' (EUREGENE), which was financed to the tune of EUR 10 million under the 'Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health' Thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). The four-and-a-half year project brought together pathologists, geneticists and development and molecular biologists from universities, research institutes, clinics and industry in nine European countries. The new atlas incorporates the latest findings on kidney development and disease. Its main aim is to chart the genes involved in kidney disease; scientists and clinicians can view gene activity patterns in both the growing and the adult kidney, and can search by gene and by the different structures that make up the kidney, as well as by experiment. Meanwhile, the anatomy section of the database allows users to view images of cross sections of the kidney that have been digitally reconstructed and annotated, so as to highlight different structural components of the kidney and the genes that are active in each component. In addition, a time-lapse video shows users how a mouse's kidney develops, while a database of mutant mouse lines provides information on how different mutations affect different parts of the kidney. Around 4.5 million Europeans suffer from kidney disease, and the number is rising sharply. Many of these people are elderly, as kidney problems often arise as a result of high blood pressure and diabetes, or are affected as children born with kidney abnormalities. Once a patient's kidneys have failed, dialysis is needed to keep the patient alive until a kidney transplant can be arranged. Unfortunately, many people die while waiting for a new kidney. Although the EUREGENE project is drawing to a close, work on the Kidney Atlas will continue, most notably through the EUNEFRON ('European network for the study of orphan nephropathies') project, which is funded through the Health Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and is scheduled to run until 2012. The aim of EUNEFRON is to investigate a number of rare, inherited diseases affecting different parts of the kidney.