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Taiwan is known as the "Kingdom of Dialysis for many years and the population of dialysis patient has surpassed 80,000 in 2015. The genetic disease Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease accounts for 5 to 10% among dialysis patients but there’s no cure for it. The project led by National Taiwan Normal University and National Applied Research Laboratories and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) might provide a critical first step to cures for polycystic kidney disease or similar conditions, researchers said. The recombinant protein drugs was injected into mice with polycystic kidney disease and it’s confirmed that the protein is effective. The life of the mice extended from 25 days to 170 days. The whole research process took 13 years and the next stage will be treatment experiments in preclinical polycystic kidney disease on rats with a view to start the human clinical trials as soon as possible. 

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD, autosomal dominant PKD or adult-onset PKD) is the most prevalent, potentially lethal, monogenic human disorder. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (Ngal) is a biomarker for acute and chronic renal injuries, including polycystic kidney disease (PKD). However, the effect of Ngal on PKD progression remains unexplored.

With the support of National Taiwan Normal University and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the research group has applied for patents in different countries. Future goals and will be the development of recombinant protein NGAL as a clinical trial. This will help improve the quality life of patients and reduce the use of medical resources. 

The first author is the PhD student Ellian Wang from the Department of Life Sciences, who is in charge of designing the project and the main work. Researcher Jiang Si Tse from the Department of Research and Development, National Laboratory Animal Center, National Applied Research Laboratories is in charge of developing the animal behavior. Jeng Wen Yih from the University Center for Bioscience and Biotechnology, National Cheng Kung University mainly worked on producing NGAL protein, and Associate Prof. Chiou Yuan Yow from National Cheng Kung University Hospital helped with human samples and experiments. Dean of the School of Science, Chen Kun Ming showed up at the press conference and praised that this is an incredible discovery.