Enzyme may hold the key to treating kidney disease and diabetes

Published: 9-Dec-2009

The Wellcome Trust has awarded more than


The Wellcome Trust has awarded more than £320,000 jointly to Nottingham Trent University and The University of Sheffield to fund research into an enzyme that is believed to hold the key to treating kidney disease and diabetes.

The NHS spends £2.1bn each year in the UK dealing with kidney disease, a problem thought to be getting worse because of its links with Type 2 diabetes, which is the result of increasing problems of obesity among the population.

For the last 15 years, scientists at the Nottingham Trent University's School of Science and Technology have been examining the role and behaviour of the enzyme Transglutaminase 2 (TG2). In collaboration with the Sheffield Kidney Institute at the University of Sheffield, they have shown that by 'blocking' this enzyme it is possible to alleviate and halt the progression of kidney disease.

Using £147,000 of funding awarded to Nottingham Trent University, the university's scientists will try to find out how TG2 migrates from the inside to the outside of cells. It is thought that understanding this process could provide the key to developing a pharmaceutical solution to treat kidney disease.

Alongside this work, a further £24,000 from the Higher Education Collaboration Fund has been awarded to the university by the East Midlands Healthcare and Bioscience iNet, which will allow scientists to investigate the genetic factors affecting the onset of Type 2 diabetes. This separately funded project will aim to identify if TG2 is genetically linked to a person's susceptibility to develop the Type 2 disease, which in turn could offer opportunities for earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Dr Elisabetta Verderio Edwards from Nottingham Trent University's School of Science and Technology and the lead researcher for the two projects, said: "Our work is aimed at unlocking the secrets of two diseases that are posing significant problems to the health of the nation, and this funding provides us with an exciting opportunity to take that work even further."

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