This article was republished in 2020 from the original in September 2018, so it’s really very old news, but exciting and hopeful!!
Here it is: https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/features/z1304_00039.html
Nearly 10 million cats are kept in Japan, and many of them die of kidney disease. Since discovering 20 years ago the “AIM” protein which is found in the blood, Professor Miyazaki has been devoted to the research of this particular protein. Over the course of his research, it became apparent that AIM improves kidney function. He is now working on developing medication that may substantially extend the lifespan of cats.
I’ve checked with a credible source and Professor Miyazaki has published very widely and there is real hope that AIM may be available soon! The article also makes me recall what a senior vet told me many years ago about how kidney disease can sometimes start from gum inflammation that makes the body product globulins and how globulin destroy the nephrons in the kidneys. This makes perfect sense now because the article explains that in a cat’s body, the AIM is strongly bound to the IgM (immunoglobulin) and it therefore cannot perform its function well.
Cat AIM, on the other hand, are so strongly bound to IgM that they do not dissociate, which makes them unable to be carried into the urine and therefore unable to accumulate around the dead cells. As a result, surviving epithelial cells cannot clean the dead cells, which means the blockage is untreated, and thus kidney function worsens.
Makes total sense to me now!
We fervently hope AIM will be available for our cats soon!!
Photo credit: (from the link above)