Diabetes is a chronic disease that induces many comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, nephropathy, and liver damage. Many mechanisms have been suggested as to how diabetes leads to these comorbidities, of which increased oxidative stress in diabetic patients has been strongly implicated. Limited knowledge of antioxidative antidiabetic drugs and substances that can address diabetic comorbidities through the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway calls for detailed investigation. This review will describe how diabetes increases oxidative stress, the general impact of that oxidative stress, and how oxidative stress primarily contributes to diabetic comorbidities. It will also address how treatments for diabetes, especially focusing on their effects on the Nrf2 antioxidative pathway, have been shown to similarly affect the Nrf2 pathway of the heart, kidney, and liver systems. This review demonstrates that the Nrf2 pathway is a common pathogenic component of diabetes and its associated comorbidities, potentially identifying this pathway as a target to guide future treatments.
Keywords: Nrf2; diabetes; heart; kidney; liver; oxidative stress.