Traditional Food-Derived Probiotics Prevent Complications in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Seoul National University Professor Kim Hyojin's Team Uncovers Mechanism of Probiotic 'Lactiplantibacillus paraplantarum'
Shows Effect in Alleviating Hyperphosphatemia Causing Cardiovascular Disease, Leading Cause of Death in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients
"Taking Probiotics Instead of Dozens of Expensive Pills Lowers Uremic Toxins and Phosphorus Levels"
Technology Transferred to Private Company for Commercialization, Patents Registered Domestically and Internationally

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Researchers at Seoul National University have discovered a probiotic from traditional fermented foods that helps in the treatment of chronic kidney disease patients.

Seoul National University announced on the 27th that Professor Kim Hyo-jin's team at the Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology recently published research results developing a probiotic for chronic kidney disease and elucidating its mechanism.

Chronic kidney disease (chronic renal failure) is a condition where evidence of kidney damage such as hematuria or proteinuria persists for more than three months, or the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), an indicator of kidney function, decreases below 60 ml/min/1.73 ㎡. Chronic kidney disease is classified into stages 1 to 5 based on the degree of GFR, with stage 3 or higher considered severe, requiring thorough management due to increased risk of complications. Patients with chronic kidney disease show higher mortality rates, as well as increased incidence and hospitalization rates for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases compared to the general population. In particular, the 5-year survival rate of chronic kidney disease patients undergoing dialysis is lower than that of breast or cervical cancer patients, due to the high likelihood of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease occurrence.

Hyperphosphatemia is one of the complications occurring in chronic kidney disease patients and is known as a significant cause of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, but treatment remains challenging. Dietary control and phosphate binder medications have been attempted, but only about 50% of patients reach treatment goals. Initially, aluminum-based phosphate binders were used for hyperphosphatemia treatment, but due to side effects such as dementia induction, they were replaced by calcium-based phosphate binders. However, these too could worsen vascular calcification due to increased calcium load, leading to the current use of new phosphate binders without calcium, such as lanthanum or sevelamer. Nonetheless, these new binders pose issues such as a large number of pills and relatively high costs.

Professor Kim's team, in collaboration with Professor Moon Sung-jin of the International St. Mary's Hospital, isolated various beneficial bacteria from traditional fermented foods like kimchi and jeotgal, and through animal experiments with Lactiplantibacillus paraplantarum, which has excellent phosphate absorption, confirmed reductions in blood phosphate levels and uremic toxin (indoxyl sulfate). They elucidated the mechanism through gene sequencing analysis and biochemical experiments.

Professor Moon stated, "Controlling blood phosphate is a very important issue to reduce mortality in chronic kidney disease patients. The development of this probiotic will help kidney disease patients manage hyperphosphatemia more easily," adding, "Additionally, it is expected to provide cardiovascular disease prevention effects and reduce uremic toxins." Professor Kim also said, "Based on this research, we expect the expansion of probiotic engineering technologies such as gene editing for probiotics," and "Through this, we hope to develop various probiotics for chronic diseases with enhanced therapeutic functions."

The research results were published on the 1st in the international journal Life Sciences. Domestic patents and patents in four major countries (the United States, Japan, Europe, and India) have been registered. Currently, the technology transfer company MK Lacto Co., Ltd. plans to launch the product.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.