NEW PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT TO PRESERVE/IMPROVE RENAL FUNCTION AFTER PARTIAL NEPHRECTOMY

The prevalence of renal cancer is increasing, which may, among others, be due to a rise in the number of radiological investigations performed for other reasons, e.g., to determine the origin of abdominal pain or weight loss. Recent years have therefore seen an increase in the number of surgical interventions involving the kidneys. This trend and the rapid aging of the general population command careful considerations of possible treatments and strategies to protect the renal function during and after kidney surgery. Searching for a feasible therapeutic option that avoids or at least minimizes post-surgery loss of kidney function, we conducted studies to evaluate the role of natriuretic peptides and blockage of their degradation as this approach has shown promising results in the cardiovascular area.
The group of NPs counts three vasoactive peptides with a molecular weight below 10 kDa. that are structurally interrelated; they are atrial NP (ANP), B-type NP (BNP), and C-type NP (CNP). NPs are synthetised, stored and secreted at myocardiocyte level.
Aims:
a) To perform a review to determine the potential benefits of the use of NPs and angiotensin-receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) drugs to protect kidney function.
b) To determine the feasibility of single kidney glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measure using 99m TC diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DPTA) as radiotracer in a pilot study, using pigs as an animal model.
c) To perform a randomised pre-clinical study investigating the action of LCZ696 at the kidney level after laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with prolonged ischemia time.
d) To elucidate the role of NPs in the mechanism of kidney hypertrophy after kidney injury