Abstract
Kidney complications are extremely common in diabetic patients, affecting around 40% of those with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and is the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease. Due to increasingly processed foods and sedentary habits, diabetic nephropathy (DN) continues to grow in prevalence all over the world. In just the 21st century alone, the number of cases for chronic kidney disease nearly doubled. Kidney complications come in many forms such as hyperglycemia, glomerulosclerosis, proteinuria, and hypertension to name a few. Despite the severity of DN, a cure does not currently exist. At the later stages of diabetic nephropathy, dialysis and renal transplantation remain the only options and even the most advanced tissue engineering products have just entered early clinical trials. This paper provides an overview of the underlying causes of DN, a list of current treatments, and tissue engineering products in development.