Diabetes is the main cause of renal failure.A group of scientists have discovered that the infusion of a small dose of cytokine can help prevent or neutralize the damage caused.
"IL-17A cytokine has long been considered an inflammation activator, which plays a fundamental role in the progression of renal failure caused by diabetes or diabetic nephropathy," says Dr. Ganesan Ramesh, renal anatomopathologist ofAugusta University, Georgia.
The Laboratory of Dr. Ramesh sought to find out what the role of cytokine was in renal insufficiency but when they eliminated the IL-17 of laboratory mice and then induced diabetes, they observed an increase in renal injury.
This is described by Dr. Ramesh, "then we study patients with severe diabetic nephropathy and find smaller IL-17 concentrations in blood and urine."
"Clearly the IL-17A is a protective gene," says Ramesh."It helps the kidney eliminate the damage caused by diabetes."Dr. Ramesh is the main author of the study published in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the first study that analyzes the role of IL-17 in renal failure.