What Is BMP-7?

[roybear]

I first read about BMP-7 approximately 2yrs ago.  I did a search for "kidney repair".  According to the
folks who "discovered" it, BMP-7 is abundant in a healthy kidney, but lacking in a defective kidney.

They took some mice with healthy kidney's, purposely damaged the kidney's and then injected
some BMP-7 into the mice.  According to the data, the BMP-7 actually improved kidney function,
and actually began to replace damaged kidney cells with healthy cells.  Also it is shown to help
prevent vascular calcification. 

The company that developed the BMP-7 is CURIS.  They sold the technology to a company
called Ortho-Biotech a few years ago.  Since then, I THINK they have gotten as far as phase2
clinical trials.  But I do not know the results, and I cannot get any response from them.

Do a search for "BMP-7 Program", or "bmp-7, kidney repair".  There is also a guy in St. Louis who
has done some research with BMP-7.  His name is Dr. Keith Hruska(I think that is right).

I do not think this stuff would help folks who have had their kidney's removed, but for those of us
who still have kidney's and/or some kidney function, I think it may be beneficial.   

Anyway, thank you for the warm welcome.  I do not get online very much, maybe 2or3 times
per week, but I will be checking back in.

Everyone,  PLEASE take care and be careful!!!





EDITED: Merged Topics: BMP-7 can reverse kidney failure? to What Is BMP-7? - Sluff, Moderator

[Black]

BMP-7 has been all over the Internet for almost 4 years but it appears there have not been any human clinical trials.  Why not?

There has already been one post here about BMP-7

http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=439.0

but it did not get any replies and I am hoping by posting about it in this way, perhaps someone will see this thread and have some current information.  It's too late for most of the posters here and too late for my husband, but many of us have extended family and/or descendants who might benefit.


Thursday, Jul 17, 2003
Bone protein can reverse kidney failure

A protein earlier used to treat bone fractures has now been found to replace damaged areas of the kidney tubules with healthy cells. 

A NEW study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre (BIDMC) has shown that a protein used to heal fractured bones is effective in repairing and reversing chronic renal disease. These findings, which are reported in Nature Medicine, could help lead to the development of a therapeutic alternative for kidney disease patients who are currently undergoing dialysis.
"Dialysis is not really a treatment, it's just a means of survival until an opportunity for a transplant opens up," notes the study's senior author Raghu Kalluri, director of the Centre for Matrix Biology at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "This is a very tedious way of living life," he adds, explaining that the process of mechanically filtering blood through a machine to remove waste products must be performed several times a week for a period of 3-4 hours per visit, posing risks of infection and other side effects. Furthermore, the procedure is extremely costly.
The kidneys function as a filtration system, keeping the body's blood supply healthy by removing excess fluids and wastes, as well as by producing hormones.
When kidneys `fail' as can result from complications associated with diabetes, lupus or several other diseases harmful wastes accumulate in the bloodstream, excess fluids build up in the body, and red blood cell production is impeded.
Once chronic kidney disease develops, it cannot be reversed or repaired; when the organs cease to function, patients have no alternative but to undergo dialysis while awaiting a kidney transplant.
The study looked at the role of a molecule called bone morphogenic protein (BMP- 7), which, in its recombinant form, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of bone fractures. Earlier studies had revealed that BMP-7 is highly expressed in the kidneys of healthy individuals.
The investigators used mouse models of chronic renal injury, characterised by the presence of scar tissue known as renal fibrosis; once kidney disease was well established in the animals, they administered the protein.
"We found that in the kidneys, the protein BMP-7 replaces the damaged areas of the kidney tubules with healthy epithelial cells. Although therapies exist to slow progression of kidney disease, once it has developed it becomes intractable, eventually leaving patients no alternative but to undergo dialysis. The possibility of creating a cost-effective drug that would actually reverse renal injury could significantly reduce the need for dialysis and significantly improve the quality of life for these patients," says Kalluri.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/seta/2003/07/17/stories/2003071700110300.htm
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... CONCLUSION: BMP-7 partially reversed diabetic-induced kidney hypertrophy, restoring GFR, urine albumin excretion, and glomerular histology toward normal. Restoration of BMP-7 expression was associated with a successful repair reaction and a reversal of the ill-fated injury response.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12753291
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The evidence for BMP-7 as an endogenous reno-protective agent is intriguing, yet further studies are needed to evaluate its reno-protective role in humans. Continuing studies will likely provide us with further confidence to test rhBMP-7 in human clinical trials.

http://ndt.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/19/4/759
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BMP-7 Is an Efficacious Treatment of Vascular Calcification in a Murine Model of Atherosclerosis and Chronic Renal Failure

http://jasn.asnjournals.org/cgi/content/full/14/6/1559

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Protein protects mouse kidneys from damage caused by acute injuries and chronic renal disease

http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2005/kidney.htm

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Treatment that blocks the devastating effects kidney damage has on bones

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=5788

[Zach]

BMP-7 has been all over the Internet for almost 4 years but it appears there have not been any human clinical trials.  Why not?

Because it was a lot of hype.  Maybe they got more investors this way.

And mice kidneys are a lot different than humans.  They may at some time stop the progression of one or two forms of human kidney disease, and maybe reverse it in a limited situation, but there are more than a dozen different kidney diseases in humans.