Final Report Summary - DNCURE (Dynamic signalling networks in Diabetic Nephropathy (DN)– New avenues to a personalized therapy.-)
Deep RNA and proteomic profiling established a podocyte atlas and a basis for targeted screening in Drosophila nephrocytes in a diabetic milieu. While we found that the regeneration capacity of podocytes is very limited, we identified specific metabolic alterations of these specialized renal epithelial cells that control cell fate and maintenance in response to a diabetic environment. Targeted interference of these aberrant metabolic pathways allowed to halt the cellular hypertrophy and de-differentiation which ultimately lead to progressive functional renal decline. Thus, our data suggested a novel treatment strategy aiming to correct intracellular metabolic dysfunctions.