Editor’s Note, SGLT-2 Inhibitors Special Edition, October 2014

Sometimes it seems as if we don’t talk about an organ or a problem until we have a medication to treat it. For years we didn’t consider the kidney as a problem area for diabetes. It was not until we identified the SGLT-1 and -2 receptors that we began to think about the kidney affecting glucose levels rather than the other way around. Now that we have three medications in the SGLT-2 inhibitor class, we have turned our focus back in the kidney’s direction.

Over 20 years ago, research showed that parts of the kidney play a large role in glucose homeostasis and this month’s special feature looks at the role of the most abundant amino acid in the kidney, glutamine, and how this compound has a profound but under-recognized effect on glucose control and diabetes development.