A Snake Toxin Derivative for Treatment of Hyponatremia and Polycystic Kidney Diseases

What is it about?

Polycystic kidney disease and hyponatremia are two pathologies that are currently treated with expensive, difficult to prescribe chemical molecules called vaptans. Those molecules are able to bind to a specific protein found in kidney cells, which alleviates the symptoms of those two afflictions. We describe for the first time a new kind of molecule called MQ232 capable of binding more efficiently to the same specific protein, tackling those two diseases in animal models which is anticipated to be associated with minimal downfalls compared to vaptans.

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