Eye Disease | Kidney Disease | Nerve Damage | Cardiovascular Disease
OPPORTUNITIES IN DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE
An aggressive research agenda is needed to rapidly translate the results of genetic studies and other basic research into real clinical benefit for diabetes patients who are facing long-term damage to their kidneys.
- Identification of genes that confer susceptibility or resistance to diabetic kidney disease will help researchers discover the biochemical pathways that contribute to vascular damage in the kidney in type 1 diabetes patients.
- Research on animal models of diabetic kidney disease that replicate the human disease is critical to fully understanding the mechanisms of kidney damage and for preclinical testing and development of new therapeutic agents that target the genetic defects associated with nephropathy.
- Large-scale, collaborative clinical trials will be required to test potential new drugs for preventing or reversing diabetic nephropathy that come out of the basic and preclinical research.
- To fully capitalize on and extend the recent downward trends in the rate of diabetic kidney disease, more research is needed to develop less toxic drugs that prevent nephropathy in the earliest stages, reverse end-stage renal disease (ESRD) without the need for dialysis or transplantation, and extend the benefits of current and new therapies to diabetic patients of all racial or ethnic groups.
Kidney disease contributes significantly to the excess morbidity and mortality observed in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients. Moreover, chronic dialysis of patients whose kidneys have failed places a financial strain on the nation's healthcare system. Research to identify patients who are at increased risk of kidney disease before it begins or to develop treatments that reverse kidney damage at the earliest possible stage will benefit all diabetes patients. Preventing or curing kidney disease in the diabetic population will substantially reduce the burden of diabetes on our economy.
