Nephrologists are now confronted worldwide with great increase in the number of patients with chronic renal failure. The reason is obvious because we do not know the causes and pathological progression mechanisms of kidney diseases at a molecular basis. Since proteomic analysis of human kidney tissues and urine samples may provide us information on these points, we have launched an international collaborative research of human kidney and urine proteomics, in which participating colleagues collects and share proteomics data on the kidney and urine for understanding the physiology and pathology of the kidney and for discovery of biomarkers and new therapeutics for kidney diseases.

This international project, Human Kidney and Urine Proteome Project (HKUPP), was proposed to Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) and was approved as an initiative project by the HUPO initiative committee on October 30, 2005 (HUPO Newsletters: December 2005).

All researchers and nephrologists who are interested in this project are welcome to join us. To get more information or to join, please contact Dr.Yutaka Yoshida (yutakay@hkupp.org) or Dr.Ichiei Narita (ichiein@hkupp.org).