Causes of Polycystic Kidney Disease

Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD, also known as Polycystic Kidney Syndrome) is one of the most common life-threatening diseases. But the experts still can’t determine the causes of this disease. According to different hereditary factors, causes of Polycystic Kidney Disease may be divided into two types.
Polycystic Kidney Disease is a genetic disorder characterized by the growth of numerous cysts in the kidneys, and it has two types: Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) and Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD).
ADPKD can occur at any age, especially in youth or middle-aged people. This disease is autosomal dominant inheritance, and the child’s risk is 50% if his parent has ADPKD. But forty percent of ADPKD patients don’t have a family history of this disease. In view of that, these patients’ diseases may be caused by their genetic mutations. One cause of ADPKD is mostly due to abnormal gene which is known as ADPKD1 on chromosome 16, the other cause of ADPKD is ADPKD2 which locates on the short arm of chromosome 14. Then we can ensure the one thing is that ADPKD is caused by genetic disorder.
ARPKD occurs only when the patient’s parents both have this disease. Because this disease usually appears in infancy and the morbidity of this disease is 25%, ARPKD is also named by infantile polycystic kidney disease. At present, although the experts still don’t know which gene causes ARPKD, we can ensure that it is a disease caused by genetic disorder.
Many researches indicate that these genetic disorders are all related to active agents that can help the cell’s growth, but the key link and causes have not been clear. In a word, the genetic disorders which make the cell’s growth change is one of causes of Polycystic Kidney Disease.