NEPHROPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF QUERCETIN IN CISPLATIN-INDUCED ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY

Abstract

Cisplatin remains a mainstay of treatment for many solid tumours, but acute kidney injury limits its dose and sometimes its use. Quercetin, a dietary flavonol with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, has been tested repeatedly as a kidney protectant in rodent models of cisplatin toxicity. This review, which reports no new data, brings together published work on how cisplatin injures the proximal tubule, how quercetin is absorbed and handled, what the animal studies show, and which molecular pathways are probably involved. The experimental literature is consistent in direction, with less tubular damage and lower oxidative and inflammatory stress. Human evidence is absent, bioavailability is poor, and dose, timing and tumour-effect data remain thin.