title: Gene networks implicated in diabetic kidney disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the main causes of renal end-stage disease. The incidence of DKD has increased substantially over the past few years. However, our understanding to the molecular mechanism of DKD is still essential, and an effective treatment has not been developed.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to explore the molecule mechanism in the development of DKD, and provide a comparison of DKD in different compartments.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, we implemented a system biology approach and analyzed gene expression profiles in 22 microdissected human renal glomerular and 22 tubule samples from healthy patients and patients with DKD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The WGCNA (Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis) analysis identified 10 modules of genes with high topological overlap in tubuli and 12 modules in glomeruli. Several TFs (transcription factors) were found expressed in both compartments, such as ETS1, ETV4, JUN, LITAF, NFE2, RARG and STAT5A. These genes may be used as therapeutic targets for DKD. By comparing the modules in the two compartments, we found that dysregulation of cell proliferation may significantly contribute to the development of DKD. Furthermore, our results concluded that DKD may be an immune-mediated degenerative disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our studies identified multiple genes that may play an important role in the pathogenesis of DKD and provided a system understanding of the potential relationships among these genes. We hope our study could aid in understanding of DKD and could provide the basis for DKD biomarker discovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, The Affiliated Jiangyin Hospital of Southeast University Medical College, Jiangyin, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China. drtangwei@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D005819:Genetic Markers; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D042282:Microdissection; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010641:Phenotype; D011379:Prognosis; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers