Department of Diabetes, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
Semin Nephrol. 2012 May;32(3):253-60. doi: 10.1016/j.semnephrol.2012.04.004.
Diabetes is associated with significantly increased rates of kidney disease or diabetic nephropathy (DN), a severe microvascular complication that can lead to end-stage renal disease. End-stage renal disease needs to be treated by dialysis or kidney transplantation and also is associated with cardiovascular disease and macrovascular complications. Therefore, effective renal protection is critical to reduce the rates of mortality associated with diabetes. Although key signal transduction and gene regulation mechanisms have been identified and several drugs are currently in clinical use, the rates of DN are still escalating, suggesting the imperative need to identify new biomarkers and drug targets. The recent discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) and their cellular functions provide an opportunity to fill these critical gaps. Because miRNAs can modulate the actions of key factors involved in DN such as transforming growth factor-β, they could be novel targets for the treatment of DN. This review covers the recent studies on the roles of miRNAs and miRNA circuits in transforming growth factor-β actions and in DN.
糖尿病与肾脏疾病或糖尿病肾病（DN）的发生率显著增加有关，DN 是一种严重的微血管并发症，可导致终末期肾病。终末期肾病需要通过透析或肾移植来治疗，而且还与心血管疾病和大血管并发症有关。因此，有效的肾脏保护对于降低与糖尿病相关的死亡率至关重要。尽管已经确定了关键的信号转导和基因调控机制，并且目前有几种药物在临床应用中，但 DN 的发病率仍在不断上升，这表明迫切需要确定新的生物标志物和药物靶点。最近发现的 microRNAs（miRNAs）及其细胞功能为填补这些关键空白提供了机会。由于 miRNAs 可以调节参与 DN 的关键因素的作用，例如转化生长因子-β，因此它们可能成为治疗 DN 的新靶点。这篇综述涵盖了 miRNAs 和 miRNA 回路在转化生长因子-β作用和 DN 中的最新研究。
