← brief for 2026-08-30 · Slowing decline

SPARC Drives Podocyte Mitochondrial Damage and Ferroptosis in Diabetic Kidney Disease Following Klotho Deficiency

Key takeaways

In lab work, researchers found that when a protective protein called Klotho runs low, another protein called SPARC damages podocytes, the tiny filter cells of the kidney. The cells' power plants (mitochondria) break down and the cells die by an iron-driven form of cell death called ferroptosis. This was done in animals and cells, not in people. It points to a possible drug target in diabetic kidney disease, nothing more yet.

Who did this work

Qing Yang (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Huimin Jiang (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Chenyang Xiong (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Xindi Zhou (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Qinqin Tan (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Han Xiao (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Lan Qiu (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Chun Gan (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Yaxi Chen (Dalian Medical University) · Haiping Yang (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Wei Jiang (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University) · Qiu Li (Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University)

Source

Paper · OpenAlex, Kidney disease concept sweep (verified C2778653478) · 2026-08-29
https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.77202