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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Renal Pharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1349022
This article is part of the Research Topic Novel Pathophysiologic Mechanisms and Reno-protective Pharmacotherapies in Diabetic Kidney Disease View all 7 articles

A New Perspective on Proteinuria and Drug Therapy for Diabetic Kidney Disease

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Key Laboratory of Kidney Diseases, Department of Nephrology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
  • 2 Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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

    Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the leading causes of end-stage renal disease worldwide and significantly increases the risk of premature death due to cardiovascular diseases. Elevated urinary albumin levels are an important clinical feature of DKD. Effective control of albuminuria not only delays glomerular filtration rate decline but also markedly reduces cardiovascular disease risk and all-cause mortality. New drugs for treating DKD proteinuria, including sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, and endothelin receptor antagonists, have shown significant efficacy. Auxiliary treatment with proprietary Chinese medicine has also yielded promising results; however, it also faces a broader scope for development. The mechanisms by which these drugs treat albuminuria in patients with DKD should be described more thoroughly. The positive effects of combination therapy with two or more drugs in reducing albuminuria and protecting the kidneys warrant further investigation. Therefore, this review explores the pathophysiological mechanism of albuminuria in patients with DKD, the value of clinical diagnosis and prognosis, new progress and mechanisms of treatment, and multidrug therapy in patients who have type 2 diabetic kidney disease, providing a new perspective on the clinical diagnosis and treatment of DKD.

    Keywords: Diabetic kidney disease, Proteinuria, Pathophysiological mechanism, Drug Therapy, Chinese patent medicine

    Received: 04 Dec 2023; Accepted: 17 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Li, Li, Zhou, Chen and Dong. 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: Zheyi Dong, Key Laboratory of Kidney Diseases, Department of Nephrology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 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.