REVIEW article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Diabetes: Molecular Mechanisms

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1513895

This article is part of the Research TopicPathophysiology of Diabetic Kidney DiseaseView all 8 articles

Targeting Programmed Cell Death Pathways: Emerging Therapeutic Strategies for Diabetic Kidney Disease

Provisionally accepted
Lin WANGLin WANG1,2Shaowei DingShaowei Ding1,2Jiaming SuJiaming Su2Yuxin HuYuxin Hu2Gongming ZhugeGongming Zhuge2Baoluo HouBaoluo Hou1,2Zhaoxi DongZhaoxi Dong2Hanzhang HongHanzhang Hong2Zeyu XueZeyu Xue2Jiayi WangJiayi Wang2Zhongjie LiuZhongjie Liu3*Hongfang LiuHongfang Liu1*Wei Jing LiuWei Jing Liu1*
  • 1Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
  • 3Department of Endocrinology and Nephrology, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Select one of your emails

You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:

Notify me on publication

Please enter your email address:

If you already have an account, please login

You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a leading cause of kidney failure. However, its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood, hindering the development of effective treatments. In recent years, substantial evidence has indicated that abnormal programmed cell death (PCD), including apoptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and autophagy, plays a crucial role in the progression of DKD, particularly in intrinsic renal cells such as podocytes, tubular epithelial cells, and mesangial cells. Novel therapeutic agents, such as sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP1) receptor agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors, and relevant traditional Chinese medicines and their formulations, have demonstrated significant efficacy in improving intrinsic renal cell PCD in DKD.This review aims to provide a concise overview of the four types of PCD and their relationship with DKD, with a particular focus on highlighting the therapeutic potential of targeting PCD signaling pathways in the treatment of DKD.

Keywords: Diabetic kidney disease, programmed cell death, Apoptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, Autophagy

Received: 19 Oct 2024; Accepted: 20 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 WANG, Ding, Su, Hu, Zhuge, Hou, Dong, Hong, Xue, Wang, Liu, Liu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Zhongjie Liu, Department of Endocrinology and Nephrology, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100001, Beijing Municipality, China
Hongfang Liu, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100001, Beijing Municipality, China
Wei Jing Liu, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100001, Beijing Municipality, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material