{"id":452917,"date":"2023-07-18T09:22:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T07:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=452917"},"modified":"2023-07-18T09:22:11","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T07:22:11","slug":"ai-brings-hope-for-patients-with-serious-metabolic-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/ai-brings-hope-for-patients-with-serious-metabolic-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"AI brings hope for patients with serious metabolic disease"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in drug discovery. Advances in the use of Big Data, learning algorithms and powerful computers have now enabled researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) to better understand a serious metabolic disease, says the university in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.uzh.ch\/en\/articles\/media\/2023\/Speicherkrankheit.html\">press release<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"io-block io-block__summary\"><ul><li>Researchers at the University of Zurich and Insilico Medicine utilized AI for drug discovery to understand a disease affecting newborns.<\/li><li>The study revealed a causal link between a specific protein and kidney disease.<\/li><li>The drug rapamycin was identified as a promising candidate for treating cystinosis.<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Cystinosis is a rare lyosomal storage disorder affecting around 1 in 100,000 to 200,000 newborns worldwide. Nephropathic (non-inflammatory) cystinosis, the most common and severe form of the disease, manifests with kidney disease symptoms during the first months of life, often leading to kidney failure before the age of 10. \u201cChildren with cystinosis suffer from a devastating, multisystemic disease, and there are currently no available curative treatments,\u201d says Olivier Devuyst, head of the Mechanisms of Inherited Kidney Disorders (MIKADO) group and co-director of the ITINERARE University Research Priority Program at UZH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UZH researchers worked with Insilico Medicine, a company that uses AI for drug discovery, to uncover the underlying cellular mechanism behind kidney disease in cystinosis. They identified the disease-causing pathways and prioritized therapeutic targets within cystinosis cells. Their findings revealed a causal association between the regulation of a protein called mTORC1 and the disease. Alessandro Luciani, one of the research group leaders, explains: \u201cOur research showed that cystine storage stimulates the activation of the mTORC1 protein, leading to the impairment of kidney function.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/research-with-mini-kidneys-may-lead-to-alternatives-to-use-of-prednisone-in-children\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"Research with mini-kidneys may lead to alternatives to prednisone use in children\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">Research with mini-kidneys may lead to alternatives to prednisone use in children<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">Kidney organoids, tiny mini-kidneys grown in the lab with the aid of stem cells, are the best way to help better understand the cause and &hellip; <a href=\"\">Continued<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Promising drug identified for treatment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As patients with cystinosis often require a kidney transplant to restore kidney function, there is an urgent need for more effective treatments. The UZH research team therefore embarked on a search for existing drugs that could be repurposed for cystinosis. This involved an analysis of the drugs\u2019 structure, target enzymes, potential side effects and efficacy in the affected tissues. The already-licensed drug rapamycin was identified as a promising candidate for treating cystinosis. Studies in cell systems and model organisms confirmed that treatment with rapamycin restored the activity of lysosomes and rescued the cellular functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Olivier Devuyst and Alessandro Luciani are optimistic about future developments: \u201cAlthough the therapeutic benefits of this approach will require further clinical investigations, we believe that these results, obtained through unique interdisciplinary collaboration, bring us closer to a feasible therapy for cystinosis patients.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in drug discovery. Advances in the use of Big Data, learning algorithms and powerful computers have now enabled researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) to better understand a serious metabolic disease, says the university in a press release. Cystinosis is a rare lyosomal storage disorder affecting around 1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1780,"featured_media":495445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34665],"tags":[69735,79698,79701],"location":[52892],"article_type":[36684],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-452917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-ai-nl-3","tag-metabolic-disease","tag-university-of-zurich-2","location-switzerland","article_type-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in drug discovery. ","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Elcke Vels","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/elckevels\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/medic-563425_1280.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">AI<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">metabolic disease<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/health\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">University of Zurich<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">AI<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">metabolic disease<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">University of Zurich<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 18, 2023","modified":"Updated on July 18, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 18, 2023 9:22 am","modified":"Updated on July 18, 2023 9:22 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1780"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=452917"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=452917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}