NOVEL REGULATORS OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE GROWTH FACTOR EXPRESSION AND BIOACTIVITY IN DIABETIC COMPLICATIONS

Funded Activity Summary

Diabetes mellitus is common in our community. It causes much premature death and loss of quality of life. Recent data from Australian studies show that ~7% of adults over 25 years, and ~20% of people aged over 65 have diabetes, and diabetes in both children and adults is increasing in Australia. A critical problem caused by diabetes, irrespective of its cause, is that blood glucose levels are higher than normal. High blood glucose contributes to much of the damage to body tissues and to the early death that can occur in diabetes. Unfortunately, given our current treatment methods, in only a small number of patients can glucose levels in the body be consistently controlled into the normal range. How does high blood glucose cause damage to the body and its different tissues? This is a complex process. One way that damage occurs is through an increase in some of the growth factors in the body. In diabetes, high blood glucose can increase the production of some growth factors in an uncontrolled way. In turn, these growth factors then cause tissue damage. One of the growth factors that can be increased by the high glucose in diabetes is called connective tissue growth factor, or CTGF. CTGF can cause scars to form in tissues, and it is increased in diabetes in humans. Through NHMRC sponsored post-doctoral research over the past four years, Dr Twigg has published findings showing pathways by which diabetes causes increases in CTGF, and ways in which CTGF then causes tissue scarring. The current grant proposal presents new data showing further novel pathways by which CTGF is activated by diabetes and ways in which CTGF causes scarring. The pathways involved will be studied in detail in the project. In addition, methods to block CTGF and its harmful effects in diabetes will be developed in this work. By controlling CTGF, it is envisaged that damage to tissues will be reduced, leading to improved quality and quantity of life for people who have diabetes.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $235,500.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Cell Metabolism

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

diabetes | diabetic end-organ complications | diabetic nephropathy | extracellular matrix | growth factors

Related Links