Diabetes affects American Indians disproportionately compared with other racial/ethnic groups in the United States and is almost exclusively type 2 diabetes. Much of our knowledge about diabetes in American Indians comes from studies in a few tribes. The most extensively studied American Indians are the Pima Indians from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, who participated in a longitudinal study of diabetes and its complications between 1965 and 2007. They have one of the highest reported incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the world, and kidney disease attributable to diabetes is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. In this article, we examine the course, determinants, and trends of diabetic kidney disease in American Indians, with special emphasis on studies conducted in the Pima Indians. We also review therapeutic strategies for managing diabetic kidney disease.

Objective

We examined the prognostic significance of elevated albuminuria in youth with type 2 diabetes.

Patients and Methods

Cross-sectional and prospective studies were conducted in Pima Indian youth aged 5-19 years at baseline who were examined between July 1, 1982 and December 31, 2007. Prevalence and sequential changes in the level of microalbuminuria (30≤ albumin-to-creatinine ratio <300 mg/g) and macroalbuminuria (albumin-to-creatinine ratio ≥300 mg/g) and incidence of macroalbuminuria were computed according to the presence or absence of type 2 diabetes.

Results

The prevalence of micro- and macroalbuminuria was 6.5% and 0.6% in the 3,856 nondiabetic youth and 18.5% and 2.9% in the 103 youth with diabetes. One-hundred-forty-one (75.4%) of 187 nondiabetic youth, but only one (7.1%) of 14 diabetic youth with elevated albumin-to-creatinine ratio (≥30 mg/g) regressed to undetectable or normal albumin-to-creatinine ratio (<30 mg/g) on subsequent examination. In a subset of 2,666 youth with a median follow-up of 8.1 years, 36 nondiabetic and 30 diabetic youth with baseline albumin-to-creatinine ratio <300 mg/g developed macroalbuminuria. For a given albumin-to-creatinine ratio level, the incidence of macroalbuminuria was 15.9-fold (95% CI = 11.1 to 22.6) higher in the diabetic than in the nondiabetic youth.

Conclusions

Elevated albuminuria is infrequent and largely transient in nondiabetic youth, but is relatively frequent and largely persistent in those with diabetes. Microalbuminuria in youth with type 2 diabetes strongly predicts progression to macroalbuminuria, supporting annual screening for albuminuria.

CNDP1 is located on 18q22.3, where linkage with diabetic nephropathy has been observed in several populations, including Pima Indians. However, evidence for association between CNDP1 alleles and diabetic nephropathy is equivocal and population-dependent. This study investigated CNDP1 as a candidate for diabetic kidney disease in Pima Indians. Nineteen tag single nucleotide polymorphisms spanning the CNDP1 locus were selected using genotype data from Chinese individuals in the HapMap resource along with 2 variants previously associated with diabetic nephropathy. All variants were genotyped in 3 different samples including a diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) case-control study, a family-based study of diabetic individuals who participated in the linkage study for nephropathy, and a cohort of diabetic individuals in whom longitudinal measures of glomerular filtration rates (GFR) were performed. There was no statistically significant evidence for association with diabetic ESRD. However, nominal evidence for association was found in the family study, where markers rs12957330 (Odds ratio [OR]=0.29 per copy of G allele; p=0.04) and rs17817077 (OR=0.46 per copy of G allele; p=0.05) were associated with diabetic nephropathy. In addition, markers rs12964454, rs7244647, and rs7229005 were associated with changes in GFR (−8.5 ml/min per copy of the G allele; p=0.04; 18.8 ml/min per copy of the C allele; p=0.03; and −13.4 ml/min per copy of the C allele; p=0.001, respectively). These findings provide nominal evidence supporting a role between CNDP1 variants and diabetic kidney disease.

Background

Glomerular podocyte number declines and urinary excretion of podocytes increases as kidney disease progresses in persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods

Using high-power electron microscopy, we quantified podocyte detachment in T2DM.

Results

We evaluated 106 glomeruli (range 1–6 per subject) from 40 Pima Indian subjects with T2DM enrolled in a clinical trial. On high-power electron micrographs, 35% of the subjects had no evidence of podocyte detachment. Among the remaining subjects, the median percentage of basement membrane with podocyte detachment was 0.62% (interquartile range = 0.32–1.52%).

Conclusion

Podocyte detachment from the glomerular basement membrane has been described and measured in type 1 diabetes mellitus using a different method. We now document podocyte detachment microscopically and quantify it morphometrically in humans with T2DM. The findings offer quantitative histologic support to a potential mechanism for the functional impairment, and possibly the sclerosis of glomeruli, in diabetic glomerular injury.

Pima Indians from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona have a high incidence rate of type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease attributable to diabetes is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this population. Since 1965, each member of the population at least 5 years of age is invited to participate in a research examination every other year. During the past 43 years, the overall incidence of diabetes in the Pima Indians has not changed, but the incidence of diabetes among those less than 15 years of age has increased nearly 6-fold, as an increasing prevalence and degree of obesity in the youth has shifted the onset of diabetes to younger ages. The rising frequency of diabetes in the youth has led, in turn, to the emergence in mid-life of the major complications of diabetes, including kidney disease. On the other hand, the introduction and widespread use of medicines to control blood pressure, reduce hyperglycemia, and block the renin-angiotensin system has lead to improvements in the average blood pressure and glycosylated hemoglobin levels in the diabetic population. These countervailing forces have influenced the course of diabetic nephropathy in a generally favorable direction in the past few years, as evidenced by the decline in the overall incidence of end-stage kidney disease since 1990. A continued increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes in youth, however, threatens to reverse this trend.

OBJECTIVE

Treatment guidelines for diabetes have become increasingly stringent as most research shows that more aggressive intervention reduces the risks for complications. Community data on the effect of these interventions are lacking.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Changes in the pharmacologic treatment of diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol in adults with diabetes were analyzed in a longitudinal population-based study of American Indians from 10 independent 3-year time intervals between 1975 and 2004. Trends in drug use were assessed by logistic regression models and trends in glycemia, blood pressure, and cholesterol were assessed by linear models.

RESULTS

Among the study participants, the use of any medicine for the treatment of diabetes increased from 53% in 1975–1978 to 67% in 2002–2004, Ptrend < 0.0001. The use of insulin as a single agent declined, and the use of combinations of insulin and oral agents increased. In 1990–1992, 23% of subjects had an A1C <7% and by 2002–2004, the proportion had increased to 33%, Ptrend < 0.0001. The use of anti-hypertensive medicine increased from 21% in 1975–1977 to 58% in 2002–2004, Ptrend < 0.0001, coincident with a decline in mean systolic blood pressure from 137 mmHg in 1975–1977 to 123 mmHg in 2002–2004, Ptrend < 0.0001. The use of lipid-lowering medicine also increased with an accompanying increase in HDL and a decrease in non-HDL cholesterol concentration.

CONCLUSIONS

Major changes in community treatment patterns for diabetes and related conditions coincided with improvements in glycemia, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

OBJECTIVE

We examined the effect of intrauterine diabetes exposure (IDE) on the incidence of diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Pima Indians with type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Individuals were followed from their first diabetic examination until December 2006, death, ESRD, or age of 45 years.

RESULTS

Among the 1,850 diabetic participants, 102 had IDE. ESRD developed in 57, 5 of whom had IDE. Cumulative incidence of ESRD by age 45 was 19.3% in participants with IDE and 5.1% in those without; the age- and sex-adjusted incidence rate ratio was 4.12 (95% CI 1.54–11.02). After additional adjustment for age at diabetes onset, ESRD incidence was similar in the two groups (incidence rate ratio 1.38, 95% CI 0.45–4.24).

CONCLUSIONS

IDE increases the age- and sex-adjusted incidence of ESRD fourfold in young adults with type 2 diabetes, mediated primarily by the earlier onset of type 2 diabetes in those with IDE.

Chronic glomerular diseases, associated with renal failure and cardiovascular morbidity, represent a major health issue. However, they remain poorly understood. Here we have reported that tightly controlled mTOR activity was crucial to maintaining glomerular podocyte function, while dysregulation of mTOR facilitated glomerular diseases. Genetic deletion of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) in mouse podocytes induced proteinuria and progressive glomerulosclerosis. Furthermore, simultaneous deletion of both mTORC1 and mTORC2 from mouse podocytes aggravated the glomerular lesions, revealing the importance of both mTOR complexes for podocyte homeostasis. In contrast, increased mTOR activity accompanied human diabetic nephropathy, characterized by early glomerular hypertrophy and hyperfiltration. Curtailing mTORC1 signaling in mice by genetically reducing mTORC1 copy number in podocytes prevented glomerulosclerosis and significantly ameliorated the progression of glomerular disease in diabetic nephropathy. These results demonstrate the requirement for tightly balanced mTOR activity in podocyte homeostasis and suggest that mTOR inhibition can protect podocytes and prevent progressive diabetic nephropathy.

OBJECTIVE

We examined secular trends in the frequency distribution of albuminuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in subjects with type 2 diabetes in 1982–1988 and 2001–2006, two periods associated with major changes in the management of diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

The cross-sectional study included Pima Indians ≥15 years old with type 2 diabetes and measures of serum creatinine and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratios (ACR). The continuous probability density distributions of ACR and eGFR were compared for the two time periods. eGFR was calculated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study equation.

RESULTS

The overall standardized distribution of ACR shifted toward lower values between time periods (P = 0.001), whereas the standardized distribution of eGFR did not (P = 0.45). In the first period, eGFR was <60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 in 6.5% of the 837 subjects. Of these, 9.3% had normal ACR, 7.4% had microalbuminuria, and 83.3% had macroalbuminuria. In the second period, the prevalence of low eGFR was similar (6.6% of the 1,310 subjects). Among those with low eGFR, normal ACR prevalence doubled to 17.2%, microalbuminuria prevalence nearly tripled to 19.5%, and macroalbuminuria prevalence declined to 63.2%. Twice as many subjects in the second period received antihypertensive medicines and 30% more received hypoglycemic medicines than in the first period.

CONCLUSIONS

The distribution of albuminuria changed significantly among diabetic Pima Indians over the past 20 years, as treatment with medicines to control hyperglycemia and hypertension increased. The distribution of eGFR, however, remained unchanged. Consequently, the frequency of chronic kidney disease characterized by normoalbuminuria and low eGFR doubled.

OBJECTIVE—Glomerular mesangial expansion and podocyte loss are important early features of diabetic nephropathy, whereas tubulointerstitial injury and fibrosis are critical for progression of diabetic nephropathy to kidney failure. Therefore, we analyzed the expression of genes in glomeruli and tubulointerstitium in kidney biopsies from diabetic nephropathy patients to identify pathways that may be activated in humans but not in murine models of diabetic nephropathy that fail to progress to glomerulosclerosis, tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and kidney failure.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Kidney biopsies were obtained from 74 patients (control subjects, early and progressive type 2 diabetic nephropathy). Glomerular and tubulointerstitial mRNAs were microarrayed, followed by bioinformatics analyses. Gene expression changes were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and immunohistological staining. Samples from db/db C57BLKS and streptozotocin-induced DBA/2J mice, commonly studied murine models of diabetic nephropathy, were analyzed.

RESULTS—In human glomeruli and tubulointerstitial samples, the Janus kinase (Jak)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) pathway was highly and significantly regulated. Jak-1, -2, and -3 as well as Stat-1 and -3 were expressed at higher levels in patients with diabetic nephropathy than in control subjects. The estimated glomerular filtration rate significantly correlated with tubulointerstitial Jak-1, -2, and -3 and Stat-1 expression (R2 = 0.30–0.44). Immunohistochemistry found strong Jak-2 staining in glomerular and tubulointerstitial compartments in diabetic nephropathy compared with control subjects. In contrast, there was little or no increase in expression of Jak/Stat genes in the db/db C57BLKS or diabetic DBA/2J mice.

CONCLUSIONS—These data suggest a direct relationship between tubulointerstitial Jak/Stat expression and progression of kidney failure in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy and distinguish progressive human diabetic nephropathy from nonprogressive murine diabetic nephropathy.

PURPOSE

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) are serious microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus. Correlations between severity of DR and DN and computed heritability estimates for DR were determined in a large, multiethnic sample of diabetic families. The hypothesis was that (1) the severity of DR correlates with the presence and severity of nephropathy in individuals with diabetes mellitus, and (2) the severity of DR is under significant familial influence in members of multiplex diabetic families.

METHODS

The Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND) was designed to evaluate the genetic basis of DN in American Indians, European Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans. FIND enrolled probands with advanced DN, along with their diabetic siblings who were concordant and discordant for nephropathy. These diabetic family members were invited to participate in the FIND-Eye study to determine whether inherited factors underlie susceptibility to DR and its severity. FIND-Eye participants underwent eye examinations and had fundus photographs taken. The severity of DR was graded by using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study Classification (ETDRS). Sib–sib correlations were calculated with the SAGE 5.0 program FCOR, to estimate heritability of retinopathy severity.

RESULTS

This report summarizes the results for the first 2368 diabetic subjects from 767 families enrolled in FIND-Eye; nearly 50% were Mexican American, the largest single ethnicity within FIND. The overall prevalence of DR was high; 33.4% had proliferative DR; 7.5%, 22.8%, and 9.5% had severe, moderate, and mild nonproliferative DR, respectively; 26.6% had no DR. The severity of DR was significantly associated with severity of DN, both by phenotypic category and by increasing serum creatinine concentration (χ2 = 658.14, df = 20; P < 0.0001). The sib–sib correlation for DR severity was 0.1358 in the total sample and 0.1224 when limited to the Mexican-American sample. Broad sense heritabilities for DR were 27% overall and 24% in Mexican-American families. The polygenic heritability of liability for proliferative DR approximated 25% in this FIND-Eye sample.

CONCLUSIONS

These data confirm that the severity of DR parallels the presence and severity of nephropathy in individuals with diabetes mellitus. The severity of DR in members of multiplex diabetic families appears to have a significant familial connection.

Research on early renal function decline in diabetes is hampered by lack of simple tools for detecting trends (particularly systematic decreases) in renal function over time when GFR is normal or elevated. This study sought to assess how well serum cystatin C meets that need. Thirty participants with type 2 diabetes in the Diabetic Renal Disease Study met these three eligibility criteria: GFR >20 ml/min per 1.73 m2 at baseline (based on cold iothalamate clearance), 4 yr of follow-up, and yearly measurements of iothalamate clearance and serum cystatin C. With the use of linear regression, each individual’s trend in renal function over time, expressed as annual percentage change in iothalamate clearance, was determined. Serum cystatin C in mg/L was transformed to its reciprocal (100/cystatin C), and linear regression was used to determine each individual’s trend over time, expressed as annual percentage change. In paired comparisons of 100/cystatin C with iothalamate clearance at each examination, the two measures were numerically similar. More important, the trends in 100/cystatin C and iothalamate clearance were strongly correlated (Spearman r = 0.77). All 20 participants with negative trends in iothalamate clearance (declining renal function) also had negative trends for 100/cystatin C. Results were discordant for only three participants. In contrast, the trends for three commonly used creatinine-based estimates of GFR compared poorly with trends in iothalamate clearance (Spearman r < 0.35). Serial measures of serum cystatin C accurately detect trends in renal function in patients with normal or elevated GFR and provide means for studying early renal function decline in diabetes.

Background

To determine whether historic albuminuria measurements provide additional predictive value for diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and natural mortality over the most recent measurement, ie, whether “regression” from high albuminuria has a different prognosis than stability at the lower level.

Study Design

Observational longitudinal study.

Setting & Participants

Pima Indians 15 years or older with type 2 diabetes and at least 2 consecutive measurements of urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) within 6 years.

Predictors

Sequential measurements of urinary ACR.

Outcomes & Measurements

Proportional hazards analyses were used to estimate the risk of ESRD and natural death associated with the first and second ACR measurement. The ability of these highly correlated variables to predict outcome was compared with receiver operating characteristic curves calculated by means of the generalized c statistic.

Results

In 983 subjects, 136 developed ESRD and 180 died of natural causes during a maximum follow-up of 12.6 years. Each doubling in the second ACR was associated with a 1.71-fold greater incidence of ESRD (95% confidence interval, 1.54 to 1.89) and 1.16-fold greater natural mortality (95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 1.27) adjusted for age, sex, diabetes duration, and antihypertensive medication. The addition of the first ACR measurement to the model did not add to the predictive value for ESRD or mortality. In pairwise comparisons of c statistics, the second ACR was a significantly better predictor of ESRD than the first ACR.

Limitations

The predictive value of ACR measurements is decreased to the extent that its precision is based on a single measure.

Conclusion

The predictive power of the latest ACR for ESRD and natural mortality in patients with diabetes is not enhanced by knowledge of the preceding ACR. Therefore, ACR changes over time, ie, regression or progression, add minimal predictive value beyond the latest measurement in the series.

Background

We examined the effect of kidney disease (KD) on mortality in nondiabetic and diabetic Pima Indians aged ≥45 years old.

Methods

Deaths and person-years of follow-up were stratified in a time-dependent fashion into categories of (1) no proteinuria and normal serum creatinine (SCr); (2) proteinuria and normal SCr; (3) high SCr [SCr ≥133 μmol/L (1.5 mg/dL) in men, ≥124 μmol/L (1.4 mg/dL) in women] but not on renal replacement therapy (RRT); or (4) RRT.

Results

Among 1993 subjects, 55.8% had type 2 diabetes at baseline. Overall death rates increased with declining kidney function in both the nondiabetic and diabetic subjects (P < 0.0001). Death rates were similar in nondiabetic and diabetic subjects with comparable levels of kidney function, although the number of deaths among nondiabetic subjects with advanced KD was small. Infections and malignancy were the leading causes of death in nondiabetic subjects with KD. Among diabetic subjects, overall mortality increased with diabetes duration (P = 0.0001) and was highest in those on RRT (P < 0.0001). High SCr was associated with higher death rates from cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetic nephropathy (DN), infections, and malignancy.

Conclusion

Death rates increased comparably with worsening kidney function in both nondiabetic and diabetic subjects and were similar in nondiabetic and diabetic subjects without KD. KD was associated with excess mortality from DN, CVD, infections, and malignancy in diabetic subjects, and from infections in those without diabetes.

Background

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The multicenter FIND consortium aims to identify genes for DN and its associated quantitative traits, e.g. the urine albumin:creatinine ratio (ACR). Herein, the results of whole-genome linkage analysis and a sparse association scan for ACR and a dichotomous DN phenotype are reported in diabetic individuals.

Methods

A genomewide scan comprising more than 5,500 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphism markers (average spacing of 0.6 cM) was performed on 1,235 nuclear and extended pedigrees (3,972 diabetic participants) ascertained for DN from African-American (AA), American-Indian (AI), European-American (EA) and Mexican-American (MA) populations.

Results

Strong evidence for linkage to DN was detected on chromosome 6p (p = 8.0 × 10−5, LOD = 3.09) in EA families as well as suggestive evidence for linkage to chromosome 7p in AI families. Regions on chromosomes 3p in AA, 7q in EA, 16q in AA and 22q in MA displayed suggestive evidence of linkage for urine ACR. The linkage peak on chromosome 22q overlaps the MYH9/APOL1 gene region, previously implicated in AA diabetic and nondiabetic nephropathies.

Conclusion

These results strengthen the evidence for previously identified genomic regions and implicate several novel loci potentially involved in the pathogenesis of DN.

Background

Previous studies have shown that, in addition to environmental influences, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has a strong genetic component. The goal of the current study is to identify regions of linkage for T2DM in ethnically diverse populations.

Methods

Phenotypic and genotypic data were obtained from African American (AA; total number of individuals (N)=1004), American Indian (AI; N=883), European American (EA; N=537), and Mexican American (MA; N=1634) individuals from the Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes. Nonparametric linkage analysis, using an average of 4,404 SNPs, was performed in relative pairs affected with T2DM in each ethnic group. In addition, family-based tests were performed to detect association with T2DM.

Results

Statistically significant evidence for linkage was observed on chromosomes 4q21.1 (LOD=3.13; genome-wide p=0.04) in AA. In addition, a total of eleven regions showed suggestive evidence for linkage (estimated at LOD>1.71), with the highest LOD scores on chromosomes 12q21.31 (LOD=2.02) and 22q12.3 (LOD=2.38) in AA, 2p11.1 (LOD=2.23) in AI, 6p12.3 (LOD=2.77) in EA, and 13q21.1 (LOD=2.24) in MA. While no region overlapped across all ethnic groups, at least five loci showing LOD>1.71 have been identified in previously published studies.

Conclusions

The results from this study provide evidence for the presence of genes affecting T2DM on chromosomes 4q, 12q, and 22q in AA, 6p in EA, 2p in AI, and 13q in MA. The strong evidence for linkage on chromosome 4q in AA provides important information given the paucity of diabetes genetic studies in this population.