Diabetic kidney disease is decoded, offering new avenues for diagnosis and treatment

[Northerner]

Diabetes is a leading cause of kidney disease, a serious, often fatal complication that is difficult to diagnose in early, potentially treatable stages. Now, a research team at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has revealed biological pathways involved in diabetic kidney disease, providing hope that both early diagnostic tests and targeted treatment can be designed.

The study, published in Diabetes, shows that oxidative stress in the "power plants" within a population of kidney cells progressively impairs the ability of the bean-shaped organs to strain blood for waste products and produce urine. The research team also found a cellular receptor that can be blocked to modulate that stress reaction. Blocking that receptor saved the kidneys in mice genetically destined to develop diabetic kidney failure.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170223102558.htm

 

[mikeyB]

That is interesting. Whether it could be used in humans is of course the holy grail. I wonder whether mice genetically programmed to get diabetic kidney disease are directly comparable to human patients. What cellular changes does that programming cause? And is that identical to what happens in human diabetes? If it is the same, then Bingo 🙂