title: Inflammation in diabetic nephropathy: moving toward clinical biomarkers and targets for treatment.
abstract: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a leading cause of end stage renal failure and there is an urgent need to identify new clinical biomarkers and targets for treatment to effectively prevent and slow the progression of the complication. Many lines of evidence show that inflammation is a cardinal pathogenetic mechanism in DN. Studies in animal models of experimental diabetes have demonstrated that there is a low-grade inflammation in the diabetic kidney. Both pharmacological and genetic strategies targeting inflammatory molecules have been shown to be beneficial in experimental DN. In vitro studies have cast light on the cellular mechanisms whereby diabetes triggers inflammation and in turn inflammation magnifies the kidney injury. Translation of this basic science knowledge into potential practical clinical applications is matter of great interest for researchers today. This review focuses on key pro-inflammatory systems implicated in the development of DN: the tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α/TNF-α receptor system, the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1/CC-chemokine receptor-2 system, and the Endocannabinoid system that have been selected as they appear particularly promising for future clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, C/so AM Dogliotti 14, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barutta
authors.forename: Graziella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grimaldi
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gruden
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D018932:Chemokine CCL2 / Q000097:blood*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C111835:CCL2 protein, human; D018932:Chemokine CCL2; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha