Metabolomics: A New Tool to Reveal the Nature of Diabetic Kidney Disease

Metabolomics is a field of systems biology that draws on the scientific methods of other groups to qualitatively or quantitatively characterize small molecule metabolites in organisms, revealing their interconnections with the state of the organism at an overall relative macroscopic level. Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is well known as a chronic metabolic disease, and metabolomics provides an excellent platform for its clinical study. A growing number of metabolomic analyses have revealed that individuals with DKD have metabolic disturbances of multiple substances in their bodies. With the continuous development and improvement of metabolomic analysis technology, the application of metabolomics in the clinical research of DKD is also expanding. This review discusses the recent progress of metabolomics in the early diagnosis, disease prognosis, and pathogenesis of DKD at the level of small molecule metabolites in vivo.