title: Early nephropathy in type 1 diabetes: a new perspective on who will and who will not progress.
abstract: Impaired renal function and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) affect up to a third of patients with type 1 diabetes. Thus, strategies for early detection and for preventative interventions are of critical importance. A model of diabetic nephropathy was developed in the 1980s that placed paramount importance on the finding of microalbuminuria as an early marker of a committed process of progressive kidney disease in diabetes. However, recent studies have provided evidence that microalbuminuria is a marker of dynamic, rather than fixed, kidney injury. Preliminary studies into early renal function decline, a process measured in early nephropathy using a simple assay for cystatin C to calculate the slope of glomerular filtration rate change over time, suggest that it is a more proximal marker than microalbuminuria of a person's trajectory toward impaired renal function and ESRD. Therefore, early renal function decline, rather than microalbuminuria, may be considered as the early marker of the committed process underlying progressive diabetic nephropathy.
authors.affiliation: Section on Genetics and Epidemiology, Joslin Diabetes Center, One Joslin Place, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Perkins
authors.forename: Andrzej S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Krolewski
mesh_terms: D000419:Albuminuria / Q000150:complications / Q000652:urine; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D055316:Cystatin C; D015891:Cystatins / Q000097:blood; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C525030:CST3 protein, human; D055316:Cystatin C; D015891:Cystatins; D011480:Protease Inhibitors