Key takeaways
Injured kidneys produce a protein called ENPP1 that disrupts energy production and cellular function in the injured region and impedes tissue repair.
Blocking ENPP1 enhances kidney repair and reduces scar tissue formation, thereby improving kidney function.
A drug developed at UCLA that helps heart tissue repair itself after a heart attack by blocking ENPP1 also helps kidney tissue repair and regenerate in mice.
This is great news and hopefully will translate to treatment in humans soon. The article states: “Blood tests showed that these mice all had significant increases in serum creatinine, BUN and cystatin C.” Would these be valid markers to track in humans monitoring aging in the kidneys or possible chronic damage due to NSAIDs or other drugs?
Also: "…Their kidneys were not as damaged, and the kidney cells were proliferating more,” - Quite fascinating, considering chronic damage, as far as I know in humans, is irreversible.