Modelling diabetic nephropathy in mice.
Authors Azushima K, Gurley SB, Coffman TM
Submitted By Thomas Coffman on 11/8/2017
Status Published
Journal Nature reviews. Nephrology
Year 2017
Date Published 10/1/2017
Volume : Pages Not Specified : Not Specified
PubMed Reference 29062142
Abstract Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease in the
developed world. Accordingly, an urgent need exists for new, curative treatments
as well as for biomarkers to stratify risk of DN among individuals with diabetes
mellitus. A barrier to progress in these areas has been a lack of animal models
that faithfully replicate the main features of human DN. Such models could be
used to define the pathogenesis, identify drug targets and test new therapies.
Owing to their tractability for genetic manipulation, mice are widely used to
model human diseases, including DN. Questions have been raised, however, about
the general utility of mouse models in human drug discovery. Standard mouse
models of diabetes typically manifest only modest kidney abnormalities, whereas
accelerated models, induced by superimposing genetic stressors, recapitulate key
features of human DN. Incorporation of systems biology approaches and emerging
data from genomics and metabolomics studies should enable further model
refinement. Here, we discuss the current status of mouse models for DN, their
limitations and opportunities for improvement. We emphasize that future efforts
should focus on generating robust models that reproduce the major clinical and
molecular phenotypes of human DN.

Complications