Glucose Transporters in Human Renal Proximal Tubular Cells Isolated From the Urine of Patients With Non–Insulin-Dependent Diabetes

The bulk of glucose that is filtered by the renal glomerulus is reabsorbed by the glucose transporters of the proximal convoluted tubular epithelium. However, it has been difficult to investigate this in diseases such as type 2 diabetes because of the inability to isolate primary renal cells from patients without a renal biopsy. We report here a method for the immunomagnetic isolation and novel primary culture of human exfoliated proximal tubular epithelial cells (HEPTECs) from fresh urine. The primary isolates are highly enriched and differentiated and express characteristic proximal tubular phenotypic markers. They continue to express the proximal tubular markers CD13/aminopeptidase-N, sodium glucose…