Media contact: Adam Pope
Tanecia Mitchell, Ph.D.Tanecia Mitchell, Ph.D., assistant professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Urology, has received her first National Institutes of Health-funded R01 grant, to investigate the role of dietary oxalate on immune function in kidney stone disease.
The grant, with a total of $2.7 million over the next five years, provides funding for an investigative research project titled “Oxalate-Driven Host Responses in Kidney Stone Disease.” The purpose of Mitchell’s research is to study how oxalate, a small molecule found in plant-derived foods, burdens the immune system during kidney stone formation.
Research revealed that consuming meals with high levels of oxalate can increase urinary oxalate excretion, a risk factor for calcium oxalate kidney stones. Small increases in urinary oxalate levels can cause crystals to form, which are the building blocks of stones. These crystals can also stimulate an immune response in the kidney.
This project aims to investigate how the immune system contributes to kidney stones and whether variations in dietary oxalate intake affect immune function.
Serving as the principal investigator, Mitchell and her colleagues will use clinical trials and experimental models to examine how oxalate impacts monocytes, macrophages and nanocrystalluria. Their objective is to find “therapeutic targets” that boost macrophage function to eliminate crystals from the kidney.
“Our data thus far suggests that dietary oxalate negatively impacts immunity during kidney stone formation,” Mitchell said. “We are using novel technologies to evaluate immune function and nanocrystalluria to potentially predict stone risk. Our hope is to eventually identify ways to improve immunity to prevent kidney stone formation and growth in patients.”
The UAB Department of Urology is in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine. To learn more about the clinical trial, contact kidneystoneresearch@uabmc.edu.