Report in PNAS on role of nephrin, the kidney filt...( intellectual property rights to nephrin...)

intellectual property rights to nephrin and new treatments based on modulating nephrin function.

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An electron micrograph of a longitudinal section of the slit membrane which shows a zipper-like appearance. To the left of the micrograph is the originally proposed model of the slit membrane, and to the right the proposed molecular model based on the self-association of nephrin molecules to form the slit membrane.

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Full size image available through contact

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This work is especially exciting because until now, very little has been known about how the kidney filters the blood. The present work elegantly depicts (see accompanying images) the location of nephrin at the slit membrane using nephrin specific antibodies that can be detected by electron microscopes. The structural domains of the nephrin molecule suggest a membrane bound receptor that self-associates with a nephrin molecule on a neighboring podocyte cell surface, thus forming a zipper-like connection between the cells, i.e. the slit membrane.

The nephrin gene was originally identified using genetic linkage analysis on patients with a rare disease called congenital nephrotic syndrome, which is a disease characterized by massive proteinuria. The discovery of the nephrin gene was reported last year by Dr. Tryggvason's group in a paper published in Molecular Cell (March 1998, Volume 1, pages 575-582).

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A cross-section electron micrograph of the kidney filtration barrier showing the slit diaphragm (Sd) and the podocyte pedicels (Ep).

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Full size image available through contact

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"The absence of a functioning nephrin protein has a profound effect on the kidney's filtration barrier. Therapeutic strategies which increase the production of a functional nephrin protein are a promising approach to restore kidney function and arr
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Contact: Matthew Knight
m.knight@noonanrusso.com
212-696 4455
Noonan/Russo Communications
5-Jul-1999


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