Research Discovery Finds Existing Drugs Can Treat Kidney Condition

Acute Kidney Injury, or AKI is a condition that often arises as a consequence of other illnesses and can have major long-term health consequences, but a new study has fund existing drugs used to treat other conditions may provide relief.

The discovery has emerged from a study by scientists at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science. The work started with the fact that AKI sufferers have high levels of endothelin, a protein that causes inflammation and blood level constriction.

Responding to this, they trialled drugs normally used to treat conditions with similar symptoms such as angina and high blood pressure on mice with elevated levels of endothelin. This was found to improve the long-term outlook. The results were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Crucially, the use of the drugs over a period of four weeks helped inhibit the endothelin-A receptor that caused AKI to progress to chronic kidney disease (CKD), which has longer-term life-limiting effects on patients. Among the drugs used were endothelin-A receptor antagonists and Verapamil.

This suggests that life science sales of angina and high blood pressure could increase as medics use them to treat AKI patients and reduce progression to CKD.

Speaking about the need for a treatment to prevent AKI progressing to CKD, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation Professor James Leiper said: “Impaired kidney function that results from acute kidney injury can also increase a person’s chance of developing and dying from heart and circulatory diseases,” adding that it is “vital we find ways to reduce this risk.”

According to the NHS, CKD progresses to kidney failure in only one out of 50 cases and can usually be controlled with drugs and lifestyle changes such as better diet, but it can also increase the risk of serious cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes.