Abstract:

The management of diabetic nephropathy is grim, and its pathogenic mechanism is complicated. Epigenetics is gaining attention due to the discovery of "metabolic memory". Pathological changes of diabetic nephropathy include podocyte lesion, mesangial matrix change, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, etc. And its pathogenic mechanism involves processes such as oxidative stress, end-products of glycosylation, autophagy and apoptosis. As important parts of it, histone acetylation, methylation, ubiquitination and other modifications are widely involved in the above processes. Drugs targeting histone modification under experimental conditions have obtained positive results. This article reviews progresses of the histone modification and targeted treatment in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy.

Key words: diabetic nephropathy, histone modification, epigenetics, metabolic memory, histone deacetylase inhibitor