Proteins Assess Therapy Targets in Diabetic Nephropathy

Presence of three proteins in blood is linked with a slower progression of diabetic kidney disease and progressive kidney failure, as per the a 7- to 15-year longitudinal study on 358 diabetics. Patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes face a high risk of diabetic kidney disease. This condition can eventually progress to end-stage kidney disease, but some patients show slower kidney decline than others.

Scientists have focused on identifying why few patients progress at slower rates and whether they might harbor proteins that protect the kidneys from the effects of diabetes.

So, the study followed two groups of patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and varying degrees of diabetic kidney disease (358 total) for between 7 to 15 years.

Patients who progressed slowly had higher amounts of the proteins ANGPT1, TNFSF12, and FGF20. The team confirmed this protective link in an independent group of 294 type 1 diabetics; they also found that FGF20 was elevated in healthy, non-diabetic parents of type 1 diabetics who remained free of kidney complications.

If validated in larger studies, this finding "could have a profound implication in future research on determinants of progressive renal decline in ," the authors say. More studies are necessary to confirm a causal link between the 3 proteins and protection from diabetic kidney disease.

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Source-Medindia