March 2008: EuReGene goes Live!
After 3 years of the project, the EuReGene kidney atlas and Expression databases have gone public. These can be accessed from the EuReGene Kidney Atlas Data Portal page. Additional resources such as a movie of kidney development and the ontology database and EuReGene's mutant phenotype data can be accessed from the portal page as well.

The Prevention of Chronic Allograft Rejection by a Gene Therapy Approach
Italian scientists have developed a new therapy that could stop transplant patients' bodies rejecting their new organs.
The innovation developed by researchers at the Mario Negri Institute in Bergamo, under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Remuzzi, aims to prevent long-term organ rejection, which doctors call chronic rejection - as opposed to short-term acute rejection, which occurs within a months from transplantation.
Chronic rejection is caused by the body's immune system, which perceives the new organ as a threat and sends T-cell lymphocytes to kill it.
Chronic rejection usually takes place few years after the transplant. It is irreversible and therefore cannot be treated effectively, except with a new transplant.
"We genetically engineer the organ before it is transplanted, using a vector 'shuttle' virus, whose DNA has been stripped and replaced with that for the production of a protein capable of blocking the T-cell lymphocytes," Dr. Ariela Benigni, the author of the study, told ANSA.
"The protein is only produced locally, in the new organ, so the rest of the body's immune system remains unaltered".
This is crucial, because it means the therapy would eliminate the need to give transplant patients immune-suppressant medicines.
As the name suggests, these drugs muzzle the patient's immune system so the organ can survive. Transplant patients have to take them for the rest of their lives. As a result, they are more exposed to diseases and infections. What's more, these drugs have many side effects, can cause cancer and do not solve the problem permanently.
"Chronic rejection is still a threat to transplant patients' long-term survival and there have been no signs of progress in the last 10 years," explained Benigni, who is the head of Mario Negri Institute's Molecular Medicine Department.
"The hope is to be able to use immune-suppressants only in the period right after the transplant (to fend off acute rejection)".
Benigni said she believes the treatment will be ideal for transplants of organs like the liver, heart and kidneys. Initial laboratory tests on mice have been extremely successful. The results are about to be published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). "The next stage is to test the procedure on large non-human primates, which we will do with a team from Padua University," Benigni continued. She expects tests on human volunteers to start in three-five years time.

News Article - Creating a 3D Kidney Atlas
"In the years ahead, researchers want to create a three-dimensional (3D) kidney atlas incorporating the latest knowledge about the development and diseases of the kidney..."
To read the full article, please go to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37

Investors' Continued Interest in Therapeutical Agent that may Prevent Renal Damage Side Effects Caused by Antibiotics
ReceptIcon has raised approximately 4 million € for continued development of its first drug candidate. ReceptIcon's recent efforts have focused on the development of drug candidates capable of preventing unpleasant and expensive renal damaging side effects associated with the otherwise effective treatment with the antibiotics of the amino glycoside group, a.o. Gentamycin. The investor team consists of the venture funds Dansk Erhvervsinvestering, INCUBA Venture, VECATA A/S, Innovations Kapital (Sweden) and Oestjysk Innovation.