Where There's Smoke, There's Fire: Uncovering the Role of Inflammation and Fibrosis in CKD Progression in T2D
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) develops in a substantial proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes and significantly increases risk for adverse clinical outcomes, including cardiovascular complications and end-organ damage. The progression of CKD in patients with T2D is driven by the combined effects of metabolic, hemodynamic, and inflammatory and fibrotic factors. Patients with diabetes who have well controlled blood glucose and blood pressure may continue to experience CKD progression, highlighting a need to better understand the role of inflammation and fibrosis, including when triggered by the overactivation of the mineralocorticoid receptor, as a key driver of CKD progression in T2D.
Katherine R. Tuttle is the Executive Director for Research at Providence Health Care in Spokane, Washington. She serves the University of Washington School of Medicine as Clinical Professor of Medicine, with a dual appointment as Professor of Basic Medical Sciences for the Washington-Wyoming-Alaska-Montana-Idaho (WWAMI) Regional Medical School Training Program at Washington State University. She is also appointed as an Investigator at the Kidney Research Institute and at the Institute for Translational Health Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr Tuttle is Associate Editor of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and co-chair of the National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative Workgroup for Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease. Her major research interests include diabetic kidney disease, hypertension, renal vascular disease, nutrition in chronic kidney disease, and transitional care in chronic kidney disease.
