Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011881 (diabetic nephropathy)
 10,836 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is an autoimmune disease associated with the presence of different types of autoantibodies. The presence of these antibodies and the corresponding antigens in the circulation leads to the formation of circulating immune complexes (CIC). CIC are known to persist in the blood for long periods of time. Such CIC following deposition in the small blood vessels have the potential to lead to microangiopathy with debilitating clinical consequences. The aim of our pilot study was to investigate whether a correlation exists between CIC and the development of microvascular complications in diabetic children. Isolation of a new glycoprotein complement inhibition factor (CIF) from the parasitic plant Cuscuta europea seed, which appears to bind specifically to complement component C3 has provided an unique tool for the measurement of immune complexes by means of ELISA-type techniques (CIF-ELISA). We studied the levels of CIC (IgG, IgM and IgA) in 58 diabetic children (mean age 12.28 +/- 4.04 years, diabetes duration 5.3 +/- 3.7 years), 29 of them had vascular complications (group 1) and the other 29 were without vascular complications (group 2). As controls, we studied sera samples from 21 healthy children (mean age 13.54 +/- 4.03 years). Sera from the diabetic patients showed statistically significant higher levels of CIC IgG (p = 0.03) than sera from the control group. In sera from group 1 values of CIC IgG showed statistically significant higher levels than controls (0.720 +/- 0.31 vs. 0.46 +/- 0.045; p = 0.011) Sera from 59% of the patients were positive for CIC IgG, 36% for CIC IgM and 9% for CIC IgA. Among 26 patients with microalbuminuria, sera from 17/26 (65%) were positive for CIC IgG, 8/26 (31%) for CIC IgM and 2/26 (8%) for CIC IgA. CIC IgG correlated with HbAlc (r = 0.51; p = 0.005) and microalbuminuria (r = 0.42, p = 0.033). CIC IgA correlated with age (r = 0.44, p = 0.03). CIC IgM correlated with the duration of diabetes (r = 0.63, p = 0.02). These findings suggest that elevated levels of CIC IgG are associated with the development of early diabetic nephropathy.
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PMID:Circulating immune complexes among diabetic children. 1515 14

The development of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus has a substantial negative impact on morbidity and mortality and is responsible for substantial individual and socioeconomic costs worldwide. One of the most serious consequences of diabetes mellitus is the development of diabetic angiopathy, which manifests clinically as microvascular and macrovascular complications. One microvascular complication, diabetic nephropathy, is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease in developed countries. Although several available therapeutic interventions can delay the onset and progression of diabetic nephropathy, morbidity associated with this disease remains high and new therapeutic approaches are needed. In addition, not all patients with diabetes mellitus will develop diabetic nephropathy and thus new biomarkers are needed to identify individuals who will develop this life-threatening disease. An increasing body of evidence points toward a role of the complement system in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. For example, circulating levels of mannose-binding lectin (MBL), a pattern recognition molecule of the innate immune system, have emerged as a robust biomarker for the development and progression of this disease, and evidence suggests that MBL, H-ficolin, complement component C3 and the membrane attack complex might contribute to renal injury in the hyperglycaemic mileu. New approaches to modulate the complement system might lead to the development of new agents to prevent or slow the progression of diabetic nephropathy.
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PMID:The role of the complement system in diabetic nephropathy. 2826 77