The McKay Lab

The work in our laboratory focuses on a type of kidney injury that is very common and caused by a sudden interruption of blood flow to the kidneys. This type of kidney injury occurs during states of shock, during cardiac surgery and in all donor kidneys removed for kidney transplant; and often results in serious patient morbidity and progressive kidney injury.

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Within minutes of low blood flow to the kidneys an inflammatory stress response occurs, which is worsened when the blood flow is restored. The initial ischemia and subsequent reperfusion invariably leads to organ injury through mechanisms that are not completely understood but that are the focus of intense work in our lab.

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We have found that within minutes of ischemia, tubular epithelial cells in the kidney release immunologically active molecules that bind to pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) constitutively expressed on healthy renal tubular cells. We also discovered that expression of specific PRRs is upregulated following brief periods of hypoxia and that blocking these receptors is highly protective from experimental renal ischemia/reperfusion injury.

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The overall focus of our laboratory is to extend our understanding of the innate immune system as a key initiator of tissue injury in renal ischemia/reperfusion injury and our work is aimed to provide new knowledge about how activation of both membrane-bound and intracellular PRRs contribute to renal damage. Our work is particularly focused on ways to improve viability of donor kidney prior to transplantation.