← brief for 2026-09-11 · Slowing decline

A dual role of AcSDKP in chronic kidney disease: Targeting pericyte-driven fibrosis and vascular repair via VEGF/FGFR1 while eliciting a compensatory FGFR1 upregulation in apoptotic tubular cells.

Key takeaways

Researchers tested a peptide the body makes on its own, called AcSDKP, in mice with kidney damage caused by a toxic plant acid. The peptide reduced scarring and helped protect the tiny blood vessels that wrap around the kidney tubes, but only when given at the right point in the disease. Dying kidney tube cells responded by turning up a growth signal receptor, so the drug's effects went in two directions at once. This was mice and cells in a dish, not people.

Who did this work

Zhu S · Shi L · Huang L · Cui N · Chen R · Jiang L · Zhang A · Xu Y · Li X

Source

Article · PubMed, CKD progression · 2026 Sep 11
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42726771/