The genetic risk of kidney disease in type 2 diabetes.

For more than 20 years, evidence in favor of a genetic basis for the susceptibility of DN in T2D has provided a foundation for studies aimed at identifying the causal genes responsible for its development. During this period, strategies used to map genes for DN have been driven by our understanding of variation across our genome and the technologies available to interrogate it; as both have evolved, so to have our approaches. The advent of next-generation sequencing technology and increased interest in the search for rare variants has begun to swing the pendulum of these efforts away from population-based studies and back to studies of pedigrees. As the field moves forward, family based approaches should greatly facilitate efforts to identify variants in genes that have a major affect on the risk of DN in T2D. To be successful, the ascertainment and comprehensive study of families with multiple affected members is critical.