Effectively Decontaminating Protein-Bound Uremic Toxins in Human Serum Albumin Using Cationic Metal–Organic Frameworks

In the field of replacement of conventional dialysis
treatment,
searching superior materials for removal of protein-bound uremic toxins
is a challenge on account of strong interactions between proteins
and uremic toxins. Herein, we first adopted cationic metal–organic
frameworks (MOFs), ZJU-X6 and ZJU-X7, as sorbents to decontaminate
uremic toxins (p-cresyl sulfate and indoxyl sulfate).
ZJU-X6 and ZJU-X7 exhibited innate advantage for sequestration of
uremic toxins by utilizing a positive charge framework with exchangeable
anions. Especially, ZJU-X6 showed a higher sorption capacity and faster
sorption kinetics than those of most reported materials. Moreover,
the cationic MOF materials could selectively remove uremic toxins
even if in the presence of competitive chloride ions and proteins.
Meanwhile, pair distribution function (PDF) and density functional
theory (DFT) were employed to elucidate the sorption mechanism between
uremic toxins and sorbents. This work suggests an attractive avenue
for constructing new types of sorbents to eliminate uremic toxins
for uremia treatment.