Abstract
Diabetic nephropathy is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease worldwide. The multipronged drug approach targeting blood pressure and serum levels of glucose, insulin, and lipids fails to fully prevent the onset and progression of diabetic nephropathy. Therefore, a new therapeutic target to combat diabetic nephropathy is required. Autophagy is a catabolic process that degrades damaged proteins and organelles in mammalian cells and plays a critical role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. The accumulation of proteins and organelles damaged by hyperglycemia and other diabetes-related metabolic changes is highly associated with the development of diabetic nephropathy. Recent studies have suggested that autophagy activity is altered in both podocytes and proximal tubular cells under diabetic conditions. Autophagy activity is regulated by both nutrient state and intracellular stresses. Under diabetic conditions, an altered nutritional state due to nutrient excess may interfere with the autophagic response stimulated by intracellular stresses, leading to exacerbation of organelle dysfunction and diabetic nephropathy. In this review, we discuss new findings showing the relationships between autophagy and diabetic nephropathy and suggest the therapeutic potential of autophagy in diabetic nephropathy.
Highlights
The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its vascular complications has become a major health problem worldwide
The body of evidence is still small, relative autophagy insufficiency may be involved in the exacerbation of diabetic nephropathy, and several medications have the potential to activate autophagy
The authors expect that autophagy activation will become a potential therapy to combat diabetic nephropathy
Summary
The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its vascular complications has become a major health problem worldwide. Diabetic nephropathy is a serious complication of diabetes and is a common cause of end-stage renal disease. Along with proteinuria, and subsequent tubulointerstitial lesions, leading to endstage renal disease [1,2,3]. The patient shows a gradual decline in the GFR and persistence of microalbuminuria that comes before mild and subsequently moderate proteinuria. Some patients develop treatment-resistant proteinuria, resulting in end-stage renal disease. Autophagy has recently been found to be a stress-responsive intracellular system, because it is likely that the disturbance of this machinery is involved in the pathogenesis of age- and diabetes-related diseases [6, 7]. We summarize and discuss recent findings on the role of autophagy in diabetic nephropathy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
