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Testing the waters: Chinese researchers find hope for life-threatening kidney injuries in the deep
- Nanodrug developed from marine bacteria leads scientists towards powerful drug treatment for acute kidney injury
- Discovery shows integrating marine drug candidates with optimised delivery platforms can provide effective clinical treatments
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New hope for people suffering from a potentially life-threatening kidney condition may live in our oceans.
With the help of nanotechnology and microscopic marine organisms, scientists in China have developed a drug they says could be used to treat acute kidney injury for which there are no effective clinical therapies.
The Guangdong-based researchers developed the therapeutic nanodrug using a marine bacteria-derived drug molecule and a shellfish-derived sugar as a delivery system.
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The nanodrug “alleviates kidney injury efficiently” in injury-induced mice, the researchers wrote in a paper published online on March 8 in the peer reviewed journal Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B.
Nano delivery systems are a rapidly developing area of science where nanoscale materials can be used to deliver therapeutic agents to specific targeted sites in a controlled manner.
Acute kidney injury happens when the kidneys suddenly stop working properly, usually in less than a few days. In severe cases, or if the condition is not properly treated, it can advance to chronic kidney disease or failure.
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