Kidneys control inter-organ homeostasis.

Cockayne syndrome is a genetic disease characterized by impairment of DNA repair mechanisms, premature ageing, cachexia and kidney dysfunction. New research in a mouse model of Cockayne syndrome demonstrates that injury induces a subset of kidney proximal tubule cells to express the anorexigenic peptide GDF15. These findings link kidney injury to cachexia and highlight the role of the kidney in mediating inter-organ homeostasis.