Genetics of diabetic nephropathy.
The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus has led to a growing number of chronic complications including diabetic nephropathy (DN). In addition to its high prevalence, DN is associated with high morbidity and mortality especially due to cardiovascular diseases. It is well established that genetic factors play a role in the pathogenesis of DN and genetically susceptible individuals can develop it after being exposed to environmental factors. DN is probably a complex, polygenic disease. Two main strategies have been used to identify genes associated to DN: analysis of candidate genes, and more recently genome-wide scan. Great efforts have been made to identify these main genes, but results are still inconsistent with different genes associated to a small effect in specific populations. The identification of the main genes would allow the detection of those individuals at high risk for DN and better understanding of its pathophysiology as well.
Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
Mariana P
MP
Carpena
Dimitris V
DV
Rados
Denise A
DA
Sortica
Bianca M de
BM
Souza
André Fernandes
AF
Reis
Luis Henrique
LH
Canani
Daisy
D
Crispim
D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans