Diabetes--renal function--what are the special problems?
Diabetic nephropathy has become the single most important cause of endstage renal failure in most countries of the Western world. Against this background, the role of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and its blockade command considerable interest. In diabetic patients and in diabetic animals, the circulating components of the RAS are suppressed. Although the evidence is not completely uniform, there are indirect arguments (renal hemodynamic response to RAS blockade, AT1 receptor expression), however, which would be consistent with increased intrarenal action of angiotensin (ANG) II. There is solid evidence that ACE inhibitors effectively interfere with progression of micro-albuminuria both in IDDM and NIDDM. They also prevent progression of advanced renal failure in IDDM, while there is only preliminary evidence in this respect for NIDDM. ACE inhibitors are superior to conventional antihypertensive agents (with the possible exception of some calcium channel blockers), but such superiority is seen only when the levels of blood pressure are relatively high. In diabetic animals, treatment with ANG II receptor blockers interferes with the development of glomerular lesions. In acute and subacute studies on diabetic patients, ANG II receptor blockers reduced albuminuria (or proteinuria) more than beta-blockers. Head-on comparison of equipotent doses ACE inhibitors and ANG II receptor blockers in non-diabetic patients produced equal reductions in proteinuria. The long-term effects of ANG II receptor blockers on progression of advanced diabetic nephropathy is the object of two large international studies. The results will not be available before the year 2000.