Potential new pathway and enzyme responsible for thrombosis in CKD identified in new study

According to the researchers, the current FDA approved antithrombotic do not work efficiently in CKD patients as they fail to target CKD-specific pathways. Moreover, these agents predispose patients at the higher risk of bleeding. "Therefore, a safe and effective antithrombotic for CKD patients is imminent. Addressing this huge unmet clinical need, our study defines a novel therapeutic target for heightened risk of thrombosis in CKD patients," said Chitalia.

While IDO-1 inhibitors are in clinical trials for other conditions, the researchers hope that they can be repurposed to prevent thrombotic complications in CKD patients.

These findings appear online in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

This work was funded in part by the National Cancer Institute R01CA175382, NIH R01 HL132325 and Evans Faculty Merit award (to V. Chitalia), NHLBI R01HL136363 and NIH R01HL080442 (to K. Ravid), American Heart Association CAT-HD Center grant # 857078 (VCC and SL), T32 training grant in cardiovascular biology T32 HL007224-40 (to J. Walker), T32 training grant in immunobiology of trauma T32 GM086308-06A1 (to N. Arinze), and the Thrombosis to Hemostasis in Health and Disease Affinity Research Collaborative (Boston University, Evans Center For Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research).