Gender-specific Research on Kidney Damage honoured

(UKJ/vdG) Biologist PD Dr Ivonne Löffler from the nephrology research laboratory at Jena University Hospital (JUH) was awarded the Paul Kimmelstiel Project Prize at the German Diabetes Congress in Berlin. The German Diabetes Society awards the prize for outstanding projects on research into diabetic kidney damage. The funding in the amount of 10,000 euros is provided by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG & Lilly Deutschland GmbH.

For around one third of patients requiring dialysis in Germany, kidney failure is the result of diabetes. This diabetic kidney damage gradually scars the renal corpuscles until their filtering function is finally completely lost. "But not all patients with diabetes are affected and not all sufferers develop severe kidney damage. In addition, men and women often show different disease progressions - an aspect that has so far received little attention in research," says Ivonne Löffler.

In her search for biomarkers for these individual differences, the scientist wants to examine two proteins in patient samples that play a key role in tissue remodelling. She will analyse whether the substances can provide an indication of the severity of the disease and whether there are gender-specific differences that may be associated with the different risks or courses of the disease in men and women. Ivonne Löffler: "The results could help to develop personalised therapeutic approaches that take the biological sex into account - and thus enable a more targeted treatment of diabetic kidney disease."

Contact:
PD Dr Ivonne Löffler
Research Laboratory Clinic for Internal Medicine IIIExternal link
E-mail: ivonne.loeffler@med.uni-jena.de
03641 - 9 32 46 30