Project summary
Obesity and type 2 diabetes can both harm the kidneys. Dr Li Kang has discovered a group of molecules that may be involved in this process. She will now investigate whether blocking these molecules could help protect the kidneys from damage in people living with obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Background to research
Our kidneys help clean our blood and keep important things, like protein, from leaking into the urine. But in people living with obesity, this filtering system can become faulty and too much protein can leak into urine. Over time, this can lead to kidney damage and failure, especially in people living with both obesity and diabetes.
Dr Li Kang has pinpointed a collection of molecules that may play a key role in how the kidney functions in obesity. When these molecules were removed in mice with obesity, their kidneys stayed healthy.
These same molecules may also play a role in insulin resistance – when the body doesn’t respond properly to insulin. Since insulin also helps the kidneys work properly, Dr Kang now wants to find out if fixing insulin resistance in kidney cells can stop kidney damage.
Research aims
Dr Kang and her PhD student will carry out three key experiments:
- In mice with obesity, they’ll explore how removing the harmful molecules affects kidney function and insulin response.
- In human kidney cells grown in the lab, they’ll switch off specific genes to understand how this pathway controls insulin signalling and kidney function.
- They’ll test new treatments in mice that are designed to block the harmful molecules, to see if this can protect against kidney damage.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
Around 1 in 5 people with diabetes develop kidney problems, and those living with obesity are at greater risk. By finding out how obesity harms the kidneys – and how to stop it – this research could help prevent serious kidney complications for the people living with diabetes most at risk.
