DRWF Open Funding 2010 recipient and Research Advisory Board member, Dr Paul Squires has just had a joint research paper published in the American Journal of Nephrology.
The paper, ‘C-Peptide as a Therapeutic Tool in Diabetic Nephropathy’, written by Claire E. Hills and Paul E. Squires from the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry , and Nigel J. Brunskill from the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, UK, seeks to discuss growing evidence that which indicates that C-peptide benefits microvascular complications associated with diabetes.
This work was supported by a grant from the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation (DRWF).
The research explored the renoprotective role of C-peptide in diabetic nephropathy (DN), by reviewing research literature using PubMed.
They found that numerous studies have demonstrated that C-peptide ameliorates a number of the structural and functional renal disturbances associated with uncontrolled hyperglycaemia in human and animal models of type 1 diabetes mellitus. This leads to the development and progression of nephropathy.
The pro-insulin product, C-peptide, has until recently been regarded as biologically inert.
The researchers concluded that burgeoning studies suggest that C-peptide is more than merely a link between the A and B chains of the pro-insulin molecule and represents a future therapeutic tool in reducing complications of DN.
They say that the role of C-peptide should now be re-examined as a potential future therapy in maintaining renal function in diabetes.
Update: This research paper is now the most viewed article from the Journal in 2010 and has been chosen to appear as part of the KARGER in focus: Diabetes collection The research team also hold the No 2 position for an associated article in the same Journal.