Volume 17 Issue 11, November 2021

Building on previous cardiovascular outcome trials with glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists, the AMPLITUDE-O trial reported significant improvements in major adverse cardiovascular and kidney outcomes with efpeglenatide in type 2 diabetes. A longer-term trial with dose-dependent analysis on kidney outcome components will better define the effects of efpeglenatide in the diabetic kidney.

Analyses of single-cell, multi-omics datasets have potential to provide new insights into biological processes; however, the integration of these complex datasets represents a considerable challenge. This Review describes the principles underlying the integration of multimodal data measured on the same cell (that is, matched data) and on different cells (unmatched data), outlining developments in computational methods and data visualization approaches.

Inflammation is a known driver of diabetes and obesity-associated kidney disease. This Review describes the role of endogenous lipid mediators — specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators and branched fatty acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids — in the resolution of inflammation and explores how insights into their function could identify new targets for therapeutic intervention.

The clinical course of diabetic kidney disease can follow different trajectories of albuminuria and glomerular filtration rate. In this Review, the authors discuss these trajectories and their underlying factors, as well as their correlation with histopathological changes in the kidney and patient outcomes.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of COVID-19. This Review describes current understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19-associated AKI, examining potential mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 infection might induce direct and indirect effects on the kidney and non-specific factors, including haemodynamic changes and/or organ crosstalk, that may adversely influence kidney function.

Aquaporin 2 has an essential role in water reabsorption in the collecting duct. Here, the authors discuss novel insights in the field of aquaporin 2 regulation and how they might have implications for the treatment not only of water balance disorders but also of patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.