Imagine getting a heads-up that your kidneys are in trouble years before it becomes a severe problem.
That’s what a recent discovery by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) can offer.
They found that a substance in the urine called “adenine” could warn of upcoming kidney failure in people with diabetes.
This is big news because, until now, doctors mainly looked for protein levels in urine to detect kidney issues. But this method misses many at-risk patients, especially among the 37 million diabetes sufferers in the U.S.
Why This Matters
Kidney failure is a terrifying outcome, particularly for those with diabetes. Once the kidneys fail, patients have to rely on a dialysis machine to clean their blood, a time-consuming and uncomfortable process that greatly impacts quality of life.
Plus, the survival rate isn’t great; nearly 40% of these patients don’t live past five years.
The key problem has been that many people with diabetes may not show traditional signs of kidney trouble, like protein in their urine, until it’s almost too late. But now, measuring adenine levels in the urine could change all that.
How the Study Worked
Dr. Kumar Sharma, the study’s lead researcher, gathered more than 1,200 patients with diabetes from different ethnic backgrounds in the U.S., as well as from an Asian cohort.
The study found the same pattern across all groups: high adenine levels in urine signaled a high risk of kidney failure.
This could mean that doctors might soon be able to test adenine levels to identify at-risk patients 5-10 years before kidney failure happens.
This study also opens the door to new treatments. The research team found a medicine that, at least in mice, could reduce adenine levels without affecting blood sugar.
That’s promising for future therapies targeting adenine to either stop or slow down kidney damage.
What’s Next?
This groundbreaking research could lead to life-changing treatments and better early-warning tests.
The team is hopeful that by catching the disease early and with new ways to target adenine, they can help people live longer, healthier lives.
They’re also working on perfecting a complicated technique to look closely at the kidney and understand how adenine and other small molecules affect it.
So, the next time you visit your doctor, especially if you have diabetes, you might soon hear about new tests and treatments that could keep your kidneys working better for longer.
And we have Dr. Sharma and his team to thank for this giant leap toward a healthier future.
If you care about kidney health, please read studies about pesticides linked to chronic kidney disease, and this drug may prevent kidney failure in people with diabetes.
If you care about health, please read studies about the real cause of inflammation in type 2 diabetes, and this statin drug for lowering cholesterol may harm kidney health.
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
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