Antisense and kidney cell research

Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides offer the potential to block the expression of specific genes with the goal of altering the phenotypic behavior of the cell. Antisense technology has attracted special interest as potential the rapeutic agents for the treatment of genetic disorders, viral infections, a nd most recently proliferative diseases such as glomerular kidney disease. This technique has recently been used for in vitro and in vivo studies in r enal cells. The use of antisense technology has been applied in vitro to he lp define both the normal mechanisms of specific ion transport and function and the pathobiological processes leading to glomerular proliferation and matrix formation. Most promising are the recent uses of antisense technolog y in vivo that have been used to treat the damaged peritoneum and alter glo merular remodeling in experimental animal models. It is hoped that widespre ad use of antisense will not only provide new insight into the normal regul atory behavior of the kidney cells but also allow one to develop therapeuti c strategies to treat kidney disease. Copyright (C) 1999 S. Karger AG, Base l.