Differential gene expression in human sural nerves from diabetic neuropathy patients- first study

A new study identified transcriptional changes associated with diabetic neuropathy progression in human sural nerve biopsies. The study also describes potential utility of the transcriptional changes in classifying diabetic neuropathy.

Transcription is the process by which message carrying elements, called messenger RNA, are created from the genes. The investigators used a technique called microarray to test the transcriptional changes.  The study was performed on 50 samples of human sural nerves collected during a 52-week clinical trail.

They identified gene expression signatures related to diabetic neuropathy and developed computational classification models of diabetic neuropathy progression.

The nerves that carry information to and from the brain are called peripheral nerves.  When these nerves are damaged, the condition is called peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathy often causes numbness and pain in the hands and feet.  Peripheral neuropathy occurs in most of the patients with diabetes, and therefore it is a common complication of diabetes. The neuropathy associated with diabetes is called diabetic neuropathy.

They conducted a series of bioinformatics analyses to identify differentially expressed genes and their networks and biological pathways potentially responsible for the progression of diabetic neuropathy.

The study was published online today in the journal Brain.

Some of the genes identified were apolipoprotein E, jun, leptin, serpin peptidase inhibitor E type 1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Ppar-gamma). Ppar-gamma plays an important role in the production of energy within the cell. 

The authors stated "we are in possession of a unique repository of human nerve biopsies harvested as part of one of these clinical trials."

The investigators used the differentially expressed genes to classify a test set of patients with regard to diabetic neuropathy progression.

This is the first high-throughput genome-wide expression study of human sural nerve biopsies obtained from patients with diabetic neuropathy.

According to the authors "evaluation of these biomarker candidates and refinement of patient classification models represents an exciting new direction in the management and treatment of diabetic neuropathy."

Publication: The identification of gene expression profiles associated with progression of human diabetic neuropathy.  Junguk Hur,Kelli A. Sullivan,Manjusha Pande,Yu Hong,Anders A. F. Sima,Hosagrahar V. Jagadish,Matthias Kretzler and Eva L. Feldman. Brain (2011) doi: 10.1093/brain/awr228 First published online: September 16, 2011.