Integrated multiomic analyses: An approach to improve understanding of diabetic kidney disease

Aim: Diabetes is increasing in prevalence worldwide, with a 20% rise in prevalence predicted between 2021 and 2030, bringing an increased burden of complications, such as diabetic kidney disease (DKD). DKD is a leading cause of end-stage kidney disease, with significant impacts on patients, families and healthcare providers. DKD often goes undetected until later stages, due to asymptomatic disease, non-standard presentation or progression, and sub-optimal screening tools and/or provision. Deeper insights are needed to improve DKD diagnosis, facilitating the identification of higher-risk patients. Improved tools to stratify patients based on disease prognosis would facilitate the optimisation of resources and the individualisation of care. This review aimed to identify how multiomic approaches provide an opportunity to understand the complex underlying biology of DKD.

Methods: This review explores how multiomic analyses of DKD are improving our understanding of DKD pathology, and aiding in the identification of novel biomarkers to detect disease earlier or predict trajectories.

Results: Effective multiomic data integration allows novel interactions to be uncovered and empathises the need for harmonised studies and the incorporation of additional data types, such as co-morbidity, environmental and demographic data to understand DKD complexity. This will facilitate a better understanding of kidney health inequalities, such as social-, ethnicity- and sex-related differences in DKD risk, onset and progression.

Conclusion: Multiomics provides opportunities to uncover how lifetime exposures become molecularly embodied to impact kidney health. Such insights would advance DKD diagnosis and treatment, inform preventative strategies and reduce the global impact of this disease.