UCD Diabetes Kidney Research study reveals new genome regions on the human genome that are linked to diabetic kidney disease (DKD).
The UCD Diabetes Complications Research Centre researchers along with their international collaborators have discovered 16 new regions of the human genome related to the leading cause of kidney disease, a disease called diabetic kidney disease (DKD), which can fail organs.
This study by the researchers at the UCD Diabetes Complications Research Center is the most extensive study ever to be carried, concentrating on the genetics of Diabetic Kidney Disease. Around 19,406 Euro-American individuals having type 1 diabetes, with and without kidney disease, were involved in this study.
Many diabetic patients, even if they have tight control over their blood sugar level, they are most likely to develop kidney disease. While others, despite having high blood sugar levels for a long time, are able to maintain healthy kidney function. Even though there have been studies indicating DKD having a genetic component, not many details were known about the genes involved until now.
The answer to why only some people are susceptible to diabetic kidney disease can be known from this diabetes kidney research. Scientists believe that genetic differences or variants
noticed in this study might explain why some people vulnerable to the disease while others are resistant.The study was led by Prof. Catherine Godson and Dr. Eoin Brennan, along with Dr. Darrell Andrews and Dr. Ross Doyle in UCD Conway Institute, collaborating with colleagues in the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School, U.S.; Queen’s University Belfast (QUB); T and University of Helsinki, to accomplish a genome-wide association study.
In this UCD Diabetes Kidney Research, various categories of DKD indicators were considered, and patients were categorized according to these indicators, like the biomarkers in urine and kidney function tests. There are 16 new gene regions discovered by the scientists that are linked to diabetic kidney disease, and the supportive biological data related to their potential roles in disease were also provided.
One gene variant was the most reliable signal uncovered. This gene variant dictated the structure of specialized membranes in the kidney. A type of collagen is made by this COL4A3 gene, the long-fiber protein on which cells sit. This variant has a connection regarding protection from DKD. Further investigation on how this genetic difference can offer protection against DKD is studied by the UCD Diabetes Complications Research team at UCD Conway Institute.
There were some altered genes near the collagen protein-related, associated with diabetic kidney disease and some genes related to inflammation and immunity.
Professor Catherine Godson from the UCD School of Medicine and Fellow, UCD Conway Institute, said, “The rates of diabetes and its associated vascular complications remain unacceptably high even after our best efforts. There is an immediate necessity to find those individuals with diabetes who are vulnerable and can develop complications like diabetic kidney disease, and effective drugs for treating the condition must be developed.
“The new 16 genome regions related to diabetic kidney disease provides insight into how the disease is developed and help to identify the targets, preventing and treating diabetic kidney disease.”
Today, about 225,840 people are living with diabetes in Ireland. Out of this 225,840 people, 20,000 people are found to have type 1 diabetes, a genetic condition diagnosed in childhood.
Author : Pratibha HC
