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Study identifies new biomarker for diabetic kidney disease


April 9, 2014

Drs. Chris Kennedy and Dylan Burger published a paper in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology that identifies a novel urinary biomarker for diabetic kidney disease. Drs. Burger and Kennedy showed that specialized kidney cells called podocytes, which form the main filter of the kidney, release tiny bits of themselves (called micro-particles) into the urine when stressed under diabetic conditions in mice. These micro-particles can be detected even before the earliest signs of diabetic kidney disease become apparent. Testing for these micro-particles could potentially identify patients who are at risk of developing more advanced kidney damage. This paper was also the subject of an editorial in the journal.

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