Millions of Americans are affected with chronic diabetic and non-diabetic kidney diseases that cause kidney failure (end stage renal disease). When kidneys fail, the average life expectancy is just over two years and survival depends on costly and disabling dialysis or transplantation treatments.
State-of-the-art genomics and bioinformatics approaches are used to discover and characterize new molecular targets and pathways associated with apoptosis, transdifferentiation, and fibrogenesis in specialized renal cells exposed to diabetic and other stresses. TGF-beta signaling pathways and targets are a major theme because TGF-beta is a key mediator of these processes.
Model systems used include renal cell culture and mouse models of diabetic and non-diabetic progressive renal disease. A new genomic medicine program aims at identification and validation of molecular biomarkers that predict progressive kidney disease in humans.