A drug previously developed at UCLA to help heart tissue repair itself after a heart attack might also help kidney tissue repair and regenerate, researchers have found.

The drug, called AD-NP1, which was recently approved by the FDA for a Phase 1 clinical trial in humans, works in heart tissue by blocking a protein that disrupts healing and prevents internal organs from fully recovering. Researchers have now found that blocking this protein in kidney tissue speeds repair after kidney injury in mice.

The new finding, published in Cell Stem Cell, builds upon many years of research in the laboratory of UCLA cardiovascular scientist Arjun Deb.