Grant: Operating Grant

Diabetes and persistent hypertension are two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart attack and kidney failure. Intensive insulin therapy and chronic treatment with inhibitors of a hormonal system called renin-angiotensin system (RAS) are the most effective treatment in preventing diabetic complications including kidney failure though underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This proposal concerns the physiological role(s) of newly discovered nuclear proteins in mediating oxidative stress induction of hypertension and kidney failure in diabetic mice as well as the molecular mechanism(s) of these novel nuclear proteins on RAS gene expression in diabetic mice. Our studies will increase our knowledge and understanding of oxidative stress action in hypertension and kidney failure development in diabetes, thereby contributing directly to improved clinical treatment.