Cross-talk between the kidneys and the lungs

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K09282
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Kidney internal medicine
• Research Institution: Fujita Health University
• Principal Investigator: Yuzawa Yukio 藤田保健衛生大学, 医学部, 教授 (00191479)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 林 宏樹 藤田保健衛生大学, 医学部, 講師 (10378086) ; 進藤 有一郎 名古屋大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (60608884) ; 西村 邦宏 国立研究開発法人国立循環器病研究センター, 研究開発基盤センター, 室長 (70397834) ; 小出 滋久 藤田保健衛生大学, 医学部, 講師 (40760913)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 腎臓学 / 臓器連関 / 肺腎連関 / 急性腎障害 / 肺炎

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Organ crosstalk is known to occur in the presence of kidney injury, with the injury spreading to distal organs, including the heart. However, little knowledge exists on the crosstalk linking the kidneys and lungs. Thus, we aimed to clarify the kidney-lung crosstalk by conducting a prospective observational study on the onset and prognosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) in a cohort of patients hospitalized for pneumonia. A new severity score that takes AKI into account would allow for an easy and accurate estimation of the mortality risk during treatment of pneumonia, which causes more than 110,000 deaths in Japan per year, accounting for the third highest number of deaths after malignant neoplasms and heart disease. This study does not only verify the crosstalk between the kidneys and the lungs but also recommends the importance of future medical treatment based on organ crosstalk rather than being constrained to treatment for single organs.

Free Research Field

腎臓内科学