Worldwide, increasing numbers of patients are affected by end stage renal failure (ESRF). This mainly results from the ageing population and the global epidemic of type 2 diabetes. ESRF is generally caused by a loss of nephrons, which constitute the part of the kidney that filters waste products from the blood (figure 1). For several decades it has been appreciated that once a critical number of nephrons is lost, kidney failure will progress relentlessly towards ESRF, which means that the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) will become less than 60 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 body surface area. This severely reduced kidney function results in the accumulation of organic waste products, a state that is generally known as uremia. This uremic state is associated with a functionally impaired immune system, resulting in many clinical side effects as an increased incidence of infections and malignancies.

, , ,
Nederlandse Transplantatie Vereniging, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals ( nu onderdeel van Pfizer Inc.), BD Biociences, Boehringer Ingelheim BV
W. Weimar (Willem)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
hdl.handle.net/1765/17720
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Hendrikx, T. (2009, December 17). The Role of Regulatory T cells in Kidney Transplantation. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/17720