Traditional Chinese Medicine in Ameliorating Diabetic Kidney Disease Via Modulating Gut Microbiota

Abstract Diabetic kidney disease (DKD), a major microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus, has become the second cause of end-stage renal disease enhancing the mortality rate of diabetes. However, there are still few treatment approaches to combat it. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been applied for a long time to treat DKD. However, there is a lack of research on how does TCM plays the role in treating DKD due to the complex of composition of TCM. In recent decade, gut microbiota is increasingly recognized for its contributions to host health, and the occurrence of gut-kidney axis also attracts many interests about microbiota in kidney injury. Some of the studies have already revealed that TCM can alleviate the symptoms of DKD through regulating gut microbiota and ameliorate a vicious circle caused by imbalance of gut-kidney axis. However, the problems of which specific species mediates the efficacy of TCM and how gut microbiota influences the process of DKD are urgent to solve. Therefore, this review systematically summarized the application of TCM and the importance of gut microbiota in DKD. More importantly, the review provided a new insight to find biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment of DKD. In future study, targeted manipulation of the gut microbiota will be progressively recognized as a way to enhance human health.