New Discoveries Made in Conquering Kidney Disease in Diabetic Patients: Diabetes and kidney failure go hand in hand. The kidneys do not fail simply because one has either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, but the kidneys fail because increased blood sugar levels over time damage blood vessels and the internal organs. Researchers worldwide are seeking to find the answers to why a person develops diabetes, how to stop the complications that arise from having these elevated blood sugar levels caused by diabetes and how to protect the organs. The kidneys, along with the eyes, are at times the main targets of these complications. With the eyes, there is vision loss. With the kidneys, there is kidney failure, which could lead to kidney dialysis. Many people live with the help of kidney dialysis, waiting for a transplant to become available.
According to the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Professor Dr. Tobias Huber, a kidney expert at the Nephrology Division of the University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany (a teaching hospital and medical research unit of the University of Freiburg and well known for its advanced research), along with the help of the Cluster of Excellence BIOSS (Center for Biological Signaling Studies), and his team have been able to make new discoveries as to why the kidneys fail as a result of diabetes.
This new research data was able to identify a signaling path that affects the progression of kidney disease in diabetic patients. mTOR (which belongs to the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinase protein family) is a metabolic enzyme that controls the growth and reproduction of cells. Through research, it has been shown that diabetes, either Type 1 or Type 2, causes the mTOR signaling path to become overactive. When the signaling path becomes overactive, it causes damage to the kidney cells which in turn leads to kidney failure.
Basal activation of mTOR may be proven to be vital for the regular function of renal corpuscles during human development, but the overactive mTOR can result in breakdown of kidney filtering in diabetic patients, which eventually leads to the total shutdown of the kidneys.
Using animals for testing, the researchers were able to stop the signaling path and able to stop the kidney disease in its tracks. If applied to diabetic patients with kidney failure in the future, this is a chance for the end of kidney failure in those suffering from any form of diabetes.
Kidney failure affects approximately 288,000 American citizens who are currently undergoing kidney dialysis. Kidney dialysis involves removing waste and excess water from the blood. Like artificial insulin being placed into the body to replace insulin no longer produced by the body, dialysis takes away the excess waste products for people with lost kidney function. Kidney failure can develop over months or years. Acute kidney failure is not reversible and kidney dialysis is required in order for the patient to live. Many consider kidney dialysis as the waiting period until a kidney transplant can be performed.
Through the new research results from Dr. Huber and his team there might be hope on the horizon for those new patients in the future who suffer from kidney failure. This new research information might lead the way for the discoveries necessary to eliminate the need for kidney dialysis. There may be hope that those with diabetes may never have to face the possibility of kidney failure and dialysis.
