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DNA origami nanostructures can exhibit preferential renal uptake and alleviate acute kidney injury

Authors: Dawei Jiang, Zhilei Ge, Hyung-Jun Im, Christopher G. England, Dalong Ni, Junjun Hou, Luhao Zhang, Christopher J. Kutyreff, Yongjun Yan, Yan Liu, Steve Y. Cho, Jonathan W. Engle, Jiye Shi, Peng Huang, Chunhai Fan, Hao Yan, Weibo Cai

Summary:

Patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) frequently require kidney transplantation and supportive therapies, such as rehydration and dialysis. Here, we show that radiolabelled DNA origami nanostructures (DONs) with rectangular, triangular and tubular shapes accumulate preferentially in the kidneys of healthy mice and mice with rhabdomyolysis-induced AKI, and that rectangular DONs have renal-protective properties, with efficacy similar to the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine—a clinically used drug that ameliorates contrast-induced AKI and protects kidney function from nephrotoxic agents. We evaluated the biodistribution of DONs non-invasively via positron emission tomography, and the efficacy of rectangular DONs in the treatment of AKI via dynamic positron emission tomography imaging with 68Ga-EDTA, blood tests and kidney tissue staining. DNA-based nanostructures could become a source of therapeutic agents for the treatment of AKI and other renal diseases.

Source: Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2018; 2 (11): 865