Sphingolipids, new kids on the block, promoting glomerular fibrosis in the diabetic kidney

摘要

siskind and colleagues have contributed greatly to our knowledge of the role of plasma membrane lipids, particularly glycosphingolipids, to the etiology of various kidney diseases. Using sophisticated methodologies for measuring kidney tissue and urinary levels of lipid biosynthetic substrates and products as well as catabolic and anabolic enzymes, they have provided evidence supporting a mechanism by which accumulated glycosphingolipids contribute to kidney disease. Most importantly, their data, collected in animal models of human diseases and cell culture systems, parallel evidence obtained from urinary and tissue biopsy samples obtained from human patients with kidney diseases of inflammatory (4), genetic, and diabetic (7) origins.