Commentary 10.1172/JCI124922

Why are diabetics prone to kidney infections?

Michael Zasloff

MedStar Georgetown Transplant Institute, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.

Address correspondence to: Michael Zasloff, Georgetown University Hospital 2 PWC, 3800 Reservoir Road NW, Washington, DC 20007, USA. Phone: 484.433.7807; Email: maz5@georgetown.edu.

Find articles by Zasloff, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

First published November 12, 2018 - More info

Published in Volume 128, Issue 12 on December 3, 2018
J Clin Invest. 2018;128(12):5213–5215. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI124922.
Copyright © 2018, American Society for Clinical Investigation

First published November 12, 2018 - Version history

People with diabetes mellitus are at higher risk of developing serious ascending infections of the urinary tract. The traditional explanation has focused on the role of glycosuria in promoting bacterial growth. Using mouse models, Murtha et al. demonstrate that when the intracellular insulin signaling pathway is compromised, antimicrobial defenses are compromised too, and the mice are unable to effectively handle uropathogenic E. coli introduced experimentally into the urinary tract. These observations strongly support the hypothesis that the antimicrobial defenses of the kidney are dependent on insulin, and the urinary tract infections associated with diabetes occur due to reduced expression of these key effectors of innate immunity.

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