Abstract:

As a class of nucleoprotein with transcription activity, hypoxiainducible factor (HIF) regulates multiple gene transcription of metabolism signal. HIF can participate in glucose uptake and glycolysis progresses, to adapt the hypoxic environment. But for diabetic nephropathy (DN) patient, high glucose ambience upregulates HIF level by multiple ways, which promotes renal fibrosis. Its known that metformin can protect from hypoxiainduced renal fibrosis by attenuating the expression of HIF. In this paper, we briefly describe effects of HIF on glucose metabolism，and the regulation of metformin on HIF in DN patients.

Key words: hypoxia-inducible factor, glucose metabolism, metformin, diabetic nephropathy