Is Diabetic Nephropathy the Result of a Podocyte Tauopathy?

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Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of kidney failure in the world and increasing at alarming rates due to the diabetes-inducing lifestyles we live. Currently the treatments for DKD are inadequate with many diabetic patients developing kidney failure needing dialysis or a kidney transplant. These patients are also more likely to suffer from cardiovascular problems such as heart attacks and strokes and to die early.It is also known that being diabetic and/or having kidney disease significantly increases the risk of developing dementia. We have evidence that this link may be due to accumulation of a protein called Tau in the cells of the brain and also in a key kidney cell called the podocyte. In this project we will investigate the importance of having too much "activated Tau" in the podocyte in diabetic and non-diabetic conditions. If we find this is an important factor that damages the kidney it will lead to the development of new types of drugs to prevent cellular Tau accumulation which will hopefully stop diabetic patients from developing kidney failure and the other associated severe problems.