SHRF Collaborative Innovation Development Grant awarded to Investigating the Role of Diabetic Pregnancies in Kidney Disease Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Adolescents Using Urine Proteomics

Investigating the Role of Diabetic Pregnancies in Kidney Disease Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Adolescents Using Urine Proteomics

Investigators: George Katselis (Principal Applicant, CCHSA/Medicine), Roland Dyck (Co-Applicant, CCHSA/Medicine), Munier Nour (Co-Applicant, Endocrinology/Pediatrics), Mark Inman (Co-Applicant, Endocrinology/Pediatrics), Robin Erickson (Co-Applicant, Nephrology/Pediatrics), Josh Lawson (Co-Applicant, CCHSA/Medicine)

Summary: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases that affects children and adolescents and is associated with a significant increase in morbidity and mortality due to its short and long-term complications. One of the most important chronic complications is diabetic kidney disease. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) affects children at a steadily increasing rate in Canada, and Saskatchewan is among the most affected provinces. It is common for adolescents with T2D to experience early diabetic kidney disease and furthermore youth onset T2D carries a higher risk of progressive kidney disease than in adults with T2D who have similar diabetes duration. Urine is a readily available biofluid and a source of protein markers which can be used in proteomics studies to unravel how the renal system functions in both normal and abnormal states. Urine proteomics can contribute in understanding the pathophysiology of diabetic kidney disease in adolescents and particularly the role of diabetic pregnancy exposure. We will study the urine proteome in T2D children/adolescents whose mothers had pre-gestational, gestational, and no maternal diabetes using mass spectrometry (MS)-based clinical proteomics. This will allow us to critically assess how diabetic pregnancies affect normal fetal renal development, and how urine proteomics can identify adolescents at increased risk for the subsequent development of diabetes-related kidney disease. We will develop MS-based proteomics methods for the qualitative and quantitative determination, evaluation, and validation of protein markers as they relate to the onset of kidney disease.