Diabetic Complications Consortium Dialogue Ideas

Metabolic control alone does not predict an individual’s risk for diabetic complications. Family studies suggest that genetic factors play an important role in the predisposition for a specific type of complication and its progression. In addition to more classic genetics, research in this area has expanded to epigenetics and non-coding RNA. Epigenetic marks include modifications to the DNA or chromatin that do not ...more »

Identifying robust association between genetic variation and severe human CKD phenotypes has been hindered by lack of collections of patient sample collection of sufficient size to use effectively in GWAS. The community could address this issue by developing reproducible but simple clinical phenotyping criteria and collecting samples from ESRD patients in dialysis units. Contrast can be made to publicly available datasets ...more »

It has been difficult to identify SNPs with even modest effects in studies of type 2 diabetic nephropathy. One possible explanation is that patients with kidney disease who have type 2 diabetes may not have a single disease. Indeed the old biopsy data suggest that there is a diversity of diseases in this population. Should gene finding efforts focus exclusively on type 1 diabetic nephropathy for the short term?