Aberrant DNA methylation of mTOR pathway genes promotes inflammatory activation of immune cells in diabetic kidney disease

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that aberrant DNA methylation in peripheral immune cells contributes to DKD progression. We showed that levels of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), a key enzyme for DNA methylation, were increased along with inflammatory activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in DKD patients. Inhibition of DNMT1 with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza) markedly increased the proportion of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in culture and in diabetic animals.

Source: Kidney International - March 5, 2019 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Guochun Chen, Huihui Chen, Shuyu Ren, Ming Xia, Jiefu Zhu, Yu Liu, Lei Zhang, Luosheng Tang, Lin Sun, Hong Liu, Zheng Dong Tags: Basic Research Source Type: research