IDENTIFICATION OF GENES HAVING A ROLE IN THE PRESENTATION OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY

摘要

A method for identifying a gene having a role in the presentation of diabeticnephropathy comprises culturing mesangial cells in the presence of aconcentration of glucose sufficient to induce differential expression,especially up-regulation, of a gene susceptible to such differentialexpression and identifying the gene so induced. The cells are also optionallysubjected to mechanical strain and/or TGF-.beta.1 can be added to the culturemedium. The differentially expressed genes can be identified by suppressionsubtractive hybridisation. The method has resulted in the identification ofnovel genes which play a role in the presentation of diabetic nephropathy. Thegenes can be used as diagnostic markers for diabetic nephropathy and as thebasis of drug development programmes.