44 | JANUARY 30 • 2020 

Israeli Health | News

A 

groundbreaking study 
has shown that it is 
possible to rejuvenate 
damaged kidneys and improve 
their function, a proce-
dure that could reverse 
chronic kidney disease, 
offsetting the need for 
dialysis. This is the 
first breakthrough in 
decades to combat this 
disease, often precipi-
tated by hypertension 
and diabetes, and which 
affects a whopping 
10 percent of the population 
worldwide. 
The study was conducted by 
Professor Benjamin Dekel, head 
of Pediatric Nephrology and the 
Pediatric Stem Cell Research 

Institute in the Edmond and 
Lily Safra Children’
s hospital at 
Sheba Medical Center. It was 
published in the Cell Reports 
medical journal. 
In past studies, 
researchers discovered 
that the adult kidney 
constantly renews itself 
over time through the 
activity of colonies of 
cells that replace lost 
and degenerated cells in 
the kidney. 
Dekel and his team 
have developed technology 
that involves the extraction of 
such healthy kidney cells from 
diseased kidneys. These cells 
are then expanded into large 
numbers within a laboratory 

environment. 
By generation of three-
dimensional cultures called 
“kidney spheres,
” the cells show 
improved function to generate 
new kidney tissue and replace 
lost cells. The new cells are then 
reintroduced into the kidney 
where they rebuild it, positively 
influencing neighboring cells 
and improving its function.
The technology uses the 
patient’
s own cells, thereby cir-
cumventing the need for immu-
nosuppression as well as prob-
lems associated with immune 
rejection.
The method has been test-
ed on mice, which displayed 
improved renal function. By 
focusing on improving and 

stabilizing renal function, this 
treatment has the potential to 
help millions of patients with 
chronic kidney disease and 
who have yet to require dialysis 
treatment. 
Clinical trials on patients 
with renal failure will be con-
ducted by the KidneyCure Bio 
firm, which commercialized 
this technology.
“This is important news for 
patients with chronic kidney 
disease, who hopefully will ben-
efit from these discoveries in 
the coming years,
” Dekel said. 
“The ability to generate new 
kidney tissue (to replace the 
damaged tissue) could help mil-
lions of patients worldwide who 
suffer from kidney disease.
” 

ROLAND METZGER

Professor
Benjamin Dekel 

F

ollowing a successful 
clinical trial conducted 
by Israel’
s Sheba Medical 
Center, Tel HaShomer, United 
States hospitals are now 
attempting to replicate the 
results of a groundbreaking 
treatment that has shown to 
alleviate pain dramatically in 
some patients suffering from 
pancreatic cancer. 
Developed by Dr. Yaacov 
Lawrence, director of Sheba 
Medical Center’
s Center 
for Translational Radiation 
Oncology, and Director of 
the Radiation Oncology 
Department Professsor Zvi 
Symon, the treatment uses 

radiation beams to target and 
accurately deliver a single 
highly concentrated dose of 
radiation to the celiac plexus 
— a bundle of nerve systems 
located behind the pancreas. 
The effect of the noninvasive 
radiation treatment is a reduc-
tion in the extensive discom-
fort and pain that pancreatic 
cancer patients often experi-
ence, giving them a far better 
quality of life. It usually takes 
about two to three weeks for 
the treatment to start working. 
In the Sheba preliminary 
trial involving 21 patients, 
which was funded by the Israel 
Cancer Association, pain 

decreased dramatically in all 
but one individual, with a third 
of patients claiming a complete 
elimination of all pain entirely.
The technique is now 
being replicated at Ohio State 
University Wexner Medical 
Center, where they treated the 
first U.S. patient early this year. 
With help and funding provid-
ed by the nonprofit Gateway 
for Cancer Research, addition-
al trials are also being conduct-
ed at Mount Sinai Hospital 
in New York, the Institute of 
Oncology Francisco Gentil in 
Portugal, the Princess Margaret 
Cancer Centre in Canada as 
well as several Israeli locations.

“The excruciating pain 
associated with pancre-
atic cancer has long been 
described as a great unsolved 
challenge in oncology, so it 
is very rewarding to have 
finally discovered a promising 
solution for patients suffer-
ing from the illness,” stated 
Lawrence of Sheba Medical 
Center. “With the continued 
testing and development of 
this method at partnering 
hospitals in the United States 
and other countries, we are 
on the path to providing 
critical relief for countless 
patients across the globe.” 

Israeli Nephrologist: 
Kidneys Can Be 
Rejuvenated

Clinical Trials Promise Pain Relief for Pancreatic Cancer Patients

FROM SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER

FROM SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER