Novel Therapeutics: Can Hydrogels Work to Treat Kidney Disease?

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Background Hydrogels are water-swollen networks that can be made from a variety of natural and synthetic polymers. Numerous chemistries can be utilized to formulate hydrogels that are injectable, enabling facile in situ delivery of therapeutics such as cytokines or cells. Summary Cells delivered via injectable hydrogels survive injection better than cells injected in saline or media suspension. Several materials have been used to investigate the use of injectable hydrogels to treat animal models of kidney disease. Species studied to date include mice and rats. This review summarizes the various materials, encapsulated therapeutic payloads, and preclinical models of kidney disease employed to investigate hydrogel injection. Transcutaneous measurements of glomerular filtration rate have demonstrated that delivery of hydrogels under the kidney capsule does not impair kidney function. Key messages Studies to date have shown the safety and efficacy of hydrogel therapies to treat kidney disease, and numerous studies have demonstrated that hydrogel therapy alone reduces inflammation and fibrosis.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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