Roxadustat Markedly Reduces Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Mice

Background: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is an effective procedure to protect against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (Hif-1 alpha) is a key molecule in IPC, and roxadustat (RXD), a first-in-class prolyl hydroxylase domain-containing protein inhibitor, has been recently developed to treat anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. Thus, we investigated whether RXD pretreatment protects against I/R injury. Methods and Results: RXD pretreatment markedly reduced the infarct size and suppressed plasma creatinine kinase activity in a murine I/R model. Analysis of oxygen metabolism showed that RXD could produce ischemic tolerance by shifting metabolism from aerobic to anaerobic respiration. Conclusions: RXD pretreatment may be a novel strategy against I/R injury.