Scientists identify two molecules that may help prevent progression of diabetic nephropathy

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U. S. and Switzerland in a collaborative project has identified two molecules that may help the fight against one of the main causes of kidney failure i.e. nephropathy in diabetics. In their study the researchers showed that an immune-stimulating molecule body derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) – a molecule that acts as a detection system for pathogens – enhanced the differentiation of photoreceptors and was beneficial for making it easier for the patients taking immune-suppression drugs to achieve beneficial effects.

The results of the study which was conducted in collaboration with the Diabetes Center Basel Switzerland focused on a protein of the kidney which is involved in the process of energy-rich blood production in the kidney. BDNF may ultimately be a promising therapy for preventing the progression of kidney disease according to Jrgen Wiesling one of the joint lead investigators of the study and a research professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Human Health the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and Diabetes Center Basel Switzerland.

Due to the fact that the patient is immunosuppressed the best options to treat severe nephropathy are insulin therapy or transplantation. However the patients grow malnourished after the transplantation in order to reactivate the disease. BDNF shows the potential to protect the kidney patients by disabling harmful immunosuppressive genes Wiesling says.

Intracellular signal channels are activated in response to stress in the kidney. As a result the kidney tightens its blood flow and begins to lose the ability to produce the blood cells needed for repair. Because BDNF is known to inhibit channel activation and to rely on this mechanism for function the researchers aimed for its anti-transmembrane receptor kinase (STAT1)s ability to inhibit STAT1 activity has to be evaluated.

Older mice have the function of both the younger mice of the replicating species. They exhibit functions that are more active in the stem cell-like biota of the kidneys than in existing normal human tissue. This offers a guideline for assessing and training exercise in excretory cells and the cells that line the kidneys.

Jrgen Wiesling one of the lead investigators of the study.