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Acute kidney injury from SGLT2 inhibitors: potential mechanisms

SGLT2 inhibitors have shown great promise in the management of diabetes mellitus and the prevention of cardiovascular complications, but increasing evidence suggests that their use can be associated with an increased risk of acute kidney injury. Insights into the mechanisms involved might help to identify individuals who are at risk of renal injury.

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Figure 1: Proposed mechanisms of renal injury from SGLT2 inhibitors.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by NIH grants DK109408-01A1 (to R.J.J.) and DK108859-01 (to M.A.L.)

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Correspondence to Richard J. Johnson.

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Competing interests

R.J.J. and M.A.L. have patents and patent applications related to blocking fructose metabolism, and are members of Colorado Research Partners, which is a startup company that is attempting to make inhibitors of fructose metabolism. R.J.J. is also on the Scientific Board of XORT Therapeutics and Amway. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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FURTHER INFORMATION

FDA Drug Safety Communication. 14 June 2016

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Hahn, K., Ejaz, A., Kanbay, M. et al. Acute kidney injury from SGLT2 inhibitors: potential mechanisms. Nat Rev Nephrol 12, 711–712 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2016.159

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2016.159

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