Washington, June 20 (SANA)An experimental drug for healing heart tissue recently green-lighted for pilot trials inhumansmay have promise for healing kidney tissues as well, lab experiments suggest.

The drug, AD-NP1, which is under development at UCLA, is designed to help avoid heart failure after a heart attack by blocking the protein ENPP1 that disrupts healing and prevents full recovery.

When UCLA researchers examined kidney biopsies from people with chronic kidney disease, they found this same protein at higher levels than in healthy tissues.

When they induced kidney injuries in normal mice and mice with ENPP1 blocked by genetic engineering, all of the animals initially showed some damage. But weeks later, the mice without ENPP1 had enhanced kidney repair, reduced scarring, and improved kidney function, the researchers reported in Cell Stem Cell.Theresearchersthen induced kidney damage in normal mice and administered AD-NP1. One week later, the mice showed improved kidney function and healing.The ENPP1 protein interferes with critical pathways that are needed for a cell to derive energy, study leader Arjun Deb of ⁠UCLA said in a statement.“We found that the same mechanisms we observed in the heart were also applicable in the kidney,” Deb said.Development of the first-in-class drug has been supported by grants from theU.S. National Institutes of Health,the Department of Defense, and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.