PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Hernandez-Diaz, Ivan AU - Pan, Jiaqi AU - Ricciardi, Carlo Alberto AU - Bai, Xiaoyan AU - Ke, Jianting AU - White, Kathryn E. AU - Flaquer, Maria AU - Fouli, Georgia E. AU - Argunhan, Fulye AU - Hayward, Anthea E. AU - Hou, Fan Fan AU - Mann, Giovanni E. AU - Miao, Robert Q. AU - Long, David A. AU - Gnudi, Luigi TI - Overexpression of Circulating Soluble Nogo-B Improves Diabetic Kidney Disease by Protecting the Vasculature AID - 10.2337/db19-0157 DP - 2019 Sep 01 TA - Diabetes PG - 1841--1852 VI - 68 IP - 9 4099 - http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/68/9/1841.short 4100 - http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/68/9/1841.full SO - Diabetes2019 Sep 01; 68 AB - Damage to the vasculature is the primary mechanism driving chronic diabetic microvascular complications such as diabetic nephropathy, which manifests as albuminuria. Therefore, treatments that protect the diabetic vasculature have significant therapeutic potential. Soluble neurite outgrowth inhibitor-B (sNogo-B) is a circulating N-terminus isoform of full-length Nogo-B, which plays a key role in vascular remodeling following injury. However, there is currently no information on the role of sNogo-B in the context of diabetic nephropathy. We demonstrate that overexpression of sNogo-B in the circulation ameliorates diabetic kidney disease by reducing albuminuria, hyperfiltration, and abnormal angiogenesis and protecting glomerular capillary structure. Systemic sNogo-B overexpression in diabetic mice also associates with dampening vascular endothelial growth factor-A signaling and reducing endothelial nitric oxide synthase, AKT, and GSK3β phosphorylation. Furthermore, sNogo-B prevented the impairment of tube formation, which occurred when human endothelial cells were exposed to sera from patients with diabetic kidney disease. Collectively, these studies provide the first evidence that sNogo-B protects the vasculature in diabetes and may represent a novel therapeutic target for diabetic vascular complications.