Mechanism underlying treatment of diabetic kidney disease using Traditional Chinese Medicine based on theory of Yin and Yang balance

The pathogenic mechanism of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is complex. The development of DKD cannot be fully explained by a single mechanism. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been applied extensively for the treatment of DKD in China. However, studying the mechanism of DKD using theories and methods that are appropriate for TCM characteristics and searching for theoretical bases for TCM clinical application are topics that still need to be explored and researched. Activation of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1/Smad and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways functions as a self-protection mechanism against renal microinflammation in DKD. However, the persistent abnormal overactivation of reactions causes secondary cell dysfunction, cell apoptosis, increased extracellular matrix (ECM) secretion, and eventually renal fibrosis. During this process, the dysregulation of self-balance among a variety of signaling pathways and the loss of self-feedback regulatory mechanisms downstream of these signaling pathways are critical causes of the occurrence and development of DKD. TCM may both inhibit the expression or activation of “hyperactive” signaling pathways (NFB, Smad3, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR) and increase the expression or activation of “deficient” signaling pathways (Smad7 and PTEN) to restore balance to cells with an abnormal pathophysiological status and achieve the goal of DKD treatment.