A team of Spanish researchers developed and tested in mice a compound capable of slowing the progression of kidney disease caused by diabetes, a major cause of the entry into dialysis diabetic patients.
The results are published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, in an article signed by researchers from the Institute of Health Research of the Jimenez Diaz (IIS-FJD) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) Foundation.
The compound is a molecule developed from the SOCS1 protein, which protects renal function in early and advanced stages of diabetes by reducing the expression of genes responsible for inflammation of the kidneys, according to a statement.
The treatment, which has proven to be safe and well tolerated, get into the cells of the kidney and inhibit them the harmful effects of high sugar levels caused by the lack of own insulin diabetes, suffering more than 400 million people in the world suffer and 642 million by 2040 according to the world Health Organization (wHO).
Carmen Gomez-Guerrero, researcher of the Group of Nephrology IIS-FJD, professor at the UAM and author of the study, the new compound has been shown to reduce the excretion of albumin in the urine and kidney damage or kidney disease, “by what is shaping up as a future treatment to preserve renal function in diabetic patients and prevent their entry into dialysis. ”
Jesus Egido de los Rios, another author, said that “after years investigating compounds that might inhibit long-term progression of diabetes diabetic nephropathy” have managed to identify “an effective treatment in diabetic mice which not only reduces inflammation, but retards disease progression. ”
“Our goal is now to start preclinical development to raise the early stages of trials with patients,” he said.
Currently there are no effective treatments for diabetic nephropathy, which causes about 40% of income on dialysis, so this experimental compound “opens the door to a promising scenario for these patients, who are currently suffering a major loss in quality of life, “the authors say.
The most common treatments (focused on controlling weight, reducing body fat and blood pressure) are inadequate in many patients to prevent cardiovascular risk and progression to kidney disease, scientists stressed.
