Autophagy and Diabetic Nephropathy.

In recent years, diabetic kidney disease has been the main cause of end-stage renal disease; more and more people have faced this serious public health problem worldwide. Autophagy is a conserved multistep pathway that degrades and recycles damaged organelles and macromolecules to maintain intracellular homeostasis. Autophagy plays key roles in several diseases, including kidney diseases. It has been suggested that dysregulated autophagy plays a vital role in both glomerular and tubulointerstitial pathologies in kidneys under diabetic conditions. The advances in our understanding of autophagy in diabetic kidney disease will be helpful for us to discover a new therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of this life-threatening diabetes complication.