New polymer could detect acute kidney injury early

A new polymer has been designed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences that might be able to identify acute kidney injury during its early stages.

During the advanced stages of the disease, it can be deadly for up to 50% of patients. Now Warsaw-based researchers say they might have found a relatively easy way of fighting the disease through early detection.

Researchers have developed a polymer which is designed to target a naturally occurring protein found in human blood. By collection lipocalin-2 researchers can potentially detect warning signs of the disease before patients’ experience symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling around the legs and eyes, and too little urine leaving the body.

Dr. Krzysztof Noworyta explained the research: "We deal with the creation of polymer recognition films for chemosensors that detect various substances. These include biomarkers and other biologically important compounds, whose presence or changes in concentration in body fluids carry information about the health of the patient. Our latest polymer can selectively capture lipocalin-2, a protein biomarker for acute kidney injury.".

"Before acute kidney injury develops, the concentration of lipocalin increases in patient's blood. So, we devised a polymer in whose structure there are molecular cavities that are a good fit for the shape and properties of the molecules of just this compound," lead author Zofia Iskierko said.