Podocyte aging and diabetic kidney disease.

Podocyte injury causes a series of cellular changes, including hypertrophy, dedifferentiation, senescence, apoptosis, and detachment. Although evidence suggests a pivotal role of podocyte senescence in diabetic kidney disease, the exact triggers and underlying mechanism remain elusive. In this study, Li et al. uncover that GPR124, a G-protein-coupled receptor, protects against podocyte senescence by inhibiting focal adhesion kinase. These findings underscore that the GPR124/focal adhesion kinase axis could be a novel target for diabetic kidney disease therapy.