Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Drug Proves Ineffective in Slowing Diabetic Kidney Disease
Clinical Breakthroughs

Drug Proves Ineffective in Slowing Diabetic Kidney Disease

By Melissa RohmanAug 17, 2020
Share
Facebook Twitter Email
Mark Molitch, MD, professor emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology and a co-author of the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A drug commonly used to reduce serum urate levels proved ineffective in slowing disease progression for patients with type 1 diabetes and early-to-moderate diabetic kidney disease, according to findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Higher serum urate levels — high amounts of uric acid in the blood — are associated with the progression of diabetic kidney disease, when kidneys are unable to efficiently eliminate uric acid from the body.

While previous studies have shown that the lowering of serum urate levels with the drug allopurinol in patients with type 2 diabetes reduced the progression of kidney disease, the current findings demonstrated that the drug presented no similar beneficial effects for patients with type 1 diabetes and diabetic kidney disease.

The study was co-authored by two Northwestern faculty: Amisha Wallia, MD, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, and Mark Molitch, MD, professor emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology.

Amisha Wallia, MD, assistant professor of Medicine int he Division of Endocrinology and a co-author of the study.

“This was a well-conducted study that definitively showed a lack of effect of allopurinol for the treatment of diabetic kidney disease. As such, it will serve to prevent further studies in this area,” Molitch said.

For the double-blind trial, the investigators randomly assigned participants with type 1 diabetes and evidence of diabetic kidney disease to receive either allopurinol or a placebo over the course of the three-year study period.

Although participants in the allopurinol group showed a successful lowering of serum uric acid levels, the drug had no overall effect in reducing the progression of diabetic kidney disease.

“It was expected that allopurinol might show a decrease in the rate of progression of kidney disease, but we were surprised that it did not despite allopurinol’s being successful in lowering urate levels,” Molitch said.

This work was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grants R03-DK-094484, R34-DK-097808, UC4-DK-101108, P30-DK-036836 and P30-DK-020572; JDRF; the JDRF; the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences grants UL1-TR-002494, UL1-TR- 001422, UL1-TR-002556, UL1-TR-002319 and UL1-TR- 001105; and the National Institute on Aging grant P30-AG-024824.

Endocrinology Patient Care Research
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Pre-Surgery Immunotherapy May Increase Survival in Advanced Melanoma

Mar 23, 2023

Hormone Therapy Plus Current Treatments Improves Survival in Prostate Cancer

Mar 22, 2023

How ChatGPT Has, and Will Continue to, Transform Scientific Research

Mar 21, 2023

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Pre-Surgery Immunotherapy May Increase Survival in Advanced Melanoma

Mar 23, 2023

Hormone Therapy Plus Current Treatments Improves Survival in Prostate Cancer

Mar 22, 2023

How ChatGPT Has, and Will Continue to, Transform Scientific Research

Mar 21, 2023

New Directions for HIV Treatment

Mar 21, 2023

Humans are Not Just Big Mice: Identifying Science’s Muscle-Scaling Problem

Mar 20, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
20230315_NM036
20230315_NM046
20230315_NM134
20230315_NM205
20230315_NM206
20230315_NM132
20230315_NM130
20230315_NM082
20230315_NM063
20230315_NM058
20230315_NM030
20230315_NM038

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.