An IRKO in the Podo: Impaired Insulin Signaling in Podocytes and the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Nephropathy

Despite its high prevalence, the mechanisms causing diabetic kidney disease remain poorly understood. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Welsh et al. (2010) show that elimination of insulin receptors from the glomerular podocyte, a cell that is central to the pathogenesis of proteinuric renal diseases, recapitulates many features of human diabetic nephropathy.