EVANSTON, Ill., Nov. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say an enzyme called ACE2 may hold promise in the treatment of diabetic kidney disease, the most common form of kidney disease.
The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers, led by Professor Daniel Batlle, have found low levels of the ACE2 enzyme in the glomeruli of the kidneys of diabetic mice. When ACE2 was further decreased with an inhibitor drug, kidney disease worsened.
Studies are now needed using compounds that increase the level of ACE2 in the kidneys of diabetic mice to see if it reverses or prevents kidney disease from developing, Batlle said.
ACE inhibitors are currently used to treat kidney disease, said Batlle, who believes an eventual ACE2 therapy -- perhaps combined with ACE inhibitors -- could be doubly effective.
"This is a new frontier," said Batlle. "Targeting the ACE2 enzyme may be important, much in the same way as the introduction of ACE inhibitors two decades ago to treat high blood pressure and slow the progression of kidney disease."
The research appear in the November issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
