DeCure's autonomous Nephrology AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for hydronephrosis — screening already-approved drugs against its 13-gene Open Targets disease module to publish open-access research. Research is fast; the path to publication is funded in milestone stages.
Disease moduleHydronephrosis maps to a 13-gene Open Targets module — the target space DeCure's AI scientist screens approved drugs against.
DeCure.ai methodSignature reversal (LINCS) plus network proximity (STRING) rank already-approved drugs likely to perturb this module — the same engine that produces DeCure.ai's repurposing hypotheses.
Repurposing thesisScreening approved medicines against this disease module, then publishing the evidence for the strongest candidate. Known pharmacology and human exposure data make the first question sharper — they do not establish safety or efficacy in a new indication.
Research record
01
ResearchComing soon
Candidate research + dossier — target rationale, drug-repurposing thesis and evidence pack.proof: Published dossier + on-chain hash
02
ValidationComing soon
In-vitro biological validation at a contract research org (CRO).proof: CRO contract + in-vitro report
03
Peer review & paperComing soon
Peer-reviewed paper published open-access (preprint + journal).proof: DOI + open-access link + on-chain hash
Current lead
No approved-drug candidate for hydronephrosis is corroborated in the literature DeepSearch retrieved. Some conditions are managed with non-pharmacological care — a device, surgery or physical therapy — rather than a medicine; that may be the case here, or the literature we found may simply be too sparse yet to support a drug-repurposing angle.
Molecular view
plexin A2 (PLXNA2) — PLXNA2 is one of the genes genetically linked to this disease in Open Targets — shown as context, not as a drug target we're pursuing: no approved-drug candidate for this disease is yet corroborated in the literature we found.
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helix sheet unxdrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 3Q3J · 1.971 Å · ligand UNKNOWN ATOM OR ION (UNX). Experimental structure, not a prediction.
What the evidence adds up to
Hydronephrosis is diagnosed more often with the increased availability of computed tomography and ultrasound scanning. Progressive dilation of the upper urinary tract can lead to acute kidney injury and, if not corrected, permanent nephron loss. One 2017 study of 174 patients with stage II–III hydronephrosis and upper urinary tract obstruction measured serum cytokines before and 21 days after surgery. Before surgery, levels of OPG, IL-1RA, adiponectin and visfatin were lower than in controls; after surgery these levels increased and became the same as controls, except for adiponectin which remained low. TGF-β1 was higher than controls both before and after surgery, and did not change post-operatively. IL-17 was low before and after surgery. RANKL levels did not differ from controls at either time point. The authors concluded that an imbalance in the RANK-RANKL-OPG regulatory pathway was present before surgery, and that restoring normal urine flow normalised the OPG level and eliminated that imbalance, along with normalising IL-1RA and visfatin.
A 2025 case report describes a 14-year-old girl with left-sided hydronephrosis caused by an aberrant lower polar vessel combined with nephroptosis. For two years she had recurrent headaches and left lumbar pain, for which she took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and had episodes of raised blood pressure. She underwent single-stage laparoscopic antevasal pyeloplasty with nephropexy. After surgery the pain and headaches resolved, blood pressure normalised, and imaging showed reduced size of the renal collecting system and decreased kidney mobility on orthostatic testing. The authors propose that one-stage laparoscopic nephropexy and pyeloplasty can be the operation of choice for this specific combined pathology.
No drug treatment for hydronephrosis itself is described in these abstracts. The 2017 cytokine study is observational and does not test any therapeutic intervention. The 2025 report is a single case, not a trial. What is missing are randomised controlled trials of any pharmacological agent for hydronephrosis, prospective studies linking cytokine profiles to clinical outcomes, and patient stratification by aetiology or stage to guide surgical versus non-surgical management. Funding for such trials and for biomarker validation remains absent.
Evidence
Retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works and resolved on OpenAlex — ranked by citations, including the results that did not work.
British Journal of Hospital Medicine · 2020 · 62 citations
An overview of hydronephrosis in adults
AbstractHydronephrosis is diagnosed more often with the increased availability of computed tomography and ultrasound scanning. Hydronephrosis is an important consideration in patients with abdominal or pelvic pathology as progressive dilation of the upper urinary tract can lead to acute kidney injury and, if not corrected, permanent nephron loss. This article explores how to approach an adult patient with hydronephrosis, encompassing aetiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and management.
Rossiyskiy Vestnik Perinatologii i Pediatrii (Russian Bulletin of Perinatology and Pediatrics) · 2025 · 0 citations · open access
Single-stage laparoscopic pyeloplasty and nephropexy in a 14-year-old child
AbstractIntroduction. Hydronephrosis in children is a well-studied disease in terms of etiopathogenesis, examination methodology and surgical methods. In the practice of a pediatric urologist-andrologist, it is challenging to exclude multifactorial pathological processes that are caused by multi etiologies. In such cases, the diagnostic algorithm can be expanded, and the tactics of surgical treatment changes depending on the new data obtained. The purpose of the report is to demonstrate the algorithm of diagnostic approaches with diagnosis verification and subsequent successful one-stage combined surgical treatment of patient with hydronephrosis on the right, caused by an aberrant vessel in combination with nephroptosis. Materials and methods. On the basis of clinical observation, the case history of a 14-year-old girl with a combined pathology — nephroptosis and hydronephrosis on the left, caused by an additional lower polar vessel, is presented. For two years, clinical manifestations of the disease were recurrent headaches and pain in the lumbar region on the left, for pain relief the patient regularly took non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Despite, the typical results of the instrumental examination for hydronephrosis, the algorithm was expanded, due to the peculiarities of the clinical picture, which included headaches, lower back pain, and episodes of increased blood pressure. As a result of additional examination, a combined pathology was detected — nephroptosis on the left. Based on the results, the child underwent one-stage laparoscopic antevasal pyeloplasty with nephropexy. The result of the surgical treatment was the relief of pain syndrome — the complaints of headaches and pain in the lumbar region disappeared, normalization of blood pressure figures, restoration of urodynamics, by the results of instrumental investigations it was confirmed a reduction in the size of the renal collecting system and a decrease in its mobility during orthostatic testing. Conclusions. One-stage laparoscopic nephropexy and isolating pyeloplasty can be considered the operation of choice for nephroptosis combined with an additional lower polar renal vessel. If the algorithm for performing this surgical treatment and postoperative management is followed, a satisfactory result is most likely achieved.
Disease module: DeepOracle (Open Targets). Structures: RDKit from PubChem SMILES. Literature: retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works (targeted per-candidate search), resolved on OpenAlex.
DeCure is a research and publication project, not medical advice and not a treatment. "DeCure for X" describes a research goal, not a claim that a cure exists. Backing a cure is a contribution to fund the research — it is not an investment, and confers no yield, royalty, equity or IP ownership. Papers are published open-access by the DeCure.ai DAO.
