Cardiff scientists study acute infection in end-stage kidney diseas...( A new research study underway at Car...),Health

A new research study underway at Cardiff University could see a decrease in the rates of treatment failure among patients with end-stage kidney disease.

Experts in the Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Interdisciplinary Research Group at the School of Medicine have secured more than 230,000 ($375,000) from the 'Renal Discoveries - The Baxter Extramural Grant' program, to investigate the potential to safeguard susceptible patients against serious problems caused by bacterial infections.

Each year Baxter Healthcare Corporation awards the Baxter Extramural Grant for innovation, exploration and application of research to advance the knowledge of renal conditions and its treatment. With only four grants awarded world-wide each year, Cardiff University is the sole recipient of the funding for the Europe/Middle East/Africa and Russia region.

Bacterial infection among patients with end-stage kidney disease is one of the major reasons for treatment failure and mortality, particularly among patients receiving peritoneal dialysis, the form of dialysis that cleans the blood inside the body through the peritoneum.

Now, thanks to the three year funding, the multidisciplinary team sponsored by Professor of Medicine John Williams, at Cardiff University will begin studying the consequence of infection by bacteria in order to understand, and in the future better regulate, a patient's immune response to infections. The team brings together clinicians and researchers at the Peritoneal Dialysis Unit, the Institute of Nephrology, and the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Immunology.

Dr Matthias Eberl, principal investigator at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Immunology, said: "Although peritoneal dialysis has a number of advantages such as independence from hospital and improved quality of life, infections still pose major risks to the patient. As treatment failure in these patients correlates directly with th
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