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Collectin-11 detects stress-induced L-fucose pattern to trigger renal epithelial injury
Conrad A. Farrar, David Tran, Ke Li, Weiju Wu, Qi Peng, Wilhelm Schwaeble, Wuding Zhou, Steven H. Sacks
Conrad A. Farrar, David Tran, Ke Li, Weiju Wu, Qi Peng, Wilhelm Schwaeble, Wuding Zhou, Steven H. Sacks
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Research Article Nephrology

Collectin-11 detects stress-induced L-fucose pattern to trigger renal epithelial injury

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Abstract

Physiochemical stress induces tissue injury as a result of the detection of abnormal molecular patterns by sensory molecules of the innate immune system. Here, we have described how the recently discovered C-type lectin collectin-11 (CL-11, also known as CL-K1 and encoded by COLEC11) recognizes an abnormal pattern of L-fucose on postischemic renal tubule cells and activates a destructive inflammatory response. We found that intrarenal expression of CL-11 rapidly increases in the postischemic period and colocalizes with complement deposited along the basolateral surface of the proximal renal tubule in association with L-fucose, the potential binding ligand for CL-11. Mice with either generalized or kidney-specific deficiency of CL-11 were strongly protected against loss of renal function and tubule injury due to reduced complement deposition. Ex vivo renal tubule cells showed a marked capacity for CL-11 binding that was induced by cell stress under hypoxic or hypothermic conditions and prevented by specific removal of L-fucose. Further analysis revealed that cell-bound CL-11 required the lectin complement pathway–associated protease MASP-2 to trigger complement deposition. Given these results, we conclude that lectin complement pathway activation triggered by ligand–CL-11 interaction in postischemic tissue is a potent source of acute kidney injury and is amenable to sugar-specific blockade.

Authors

Conrad A. Farrar, David Tran, Ke Li, Weiju Wu, Qi Peng, Wilhelm Schwaeble, Wuding Zhou, Steven H. Sacks

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Figure 8

Requirement of complement subcomponents for complement activation on tubule cells.

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Requirement of complement subcomponents for complement activation on tub...
(A) Representative immunofluorescence images of C3d deposits on hypothermia-stressed Colec11–/– RTECs following incubation with 10% fresh mouse serum from normal (NMS), Colec11–/–, Masp2–/–, or C4–/– mice, demonstrating C3d deposition following incubation with NMS and reduced deposition with Colec11–/– or Masp2–/– serum; in contrast, C3d deposition was not reduced following incubation with C4–/– serum. Scale bars: 25 μm. (B) Quantification of C3d deposits on the RTECs shown in A. Data shown are from 10 individual images for each of 4 independent experiments. Percentage of C3d-positive binding to Colec11–/– RTECs was determined from 5 to 7 individual fields, representative of 4 independent experiments, except for incubation with C4–/– serum, which was performed in 2 of those experiments. *P < 0.05, by 1-way ANOVA. (C) Representative fluorescence images of CL-11 (red), C3d (green), and a merged image of CL-11 and C3d in Colec11–/– RTECs that had been hypothermia stressed, pretreated with α-L-fucosidase or β-gal, and then incubated with NMS, demonstrating that CL-11 binding and C3d deposition were reduced by fucosidase treatment. A negative control of α-L-fucosidase–treated Colec11–/– RTECs, which had been incubated with Colec11–/– serum, is also shown. Scale bars: 25 μm. (D) Quantification of CL-11 binding and C3d deposition in the RTECs shown in C. Data shown are from 6 to 8 individual images and representative of 3 independent experiments. ****P < 0.001, by 2-way ANOVA. (E) Typical staining pattern for C3d on stressed Colec11–/– RTECs that had been incubated with medium alone or medium containing rCL-11 and then washed and subsequently incubated with Colec11–/– serum. (F) Quantification of C3d deposition in the RTECs shown in E. Data are from 6 individual images for each of 2 independent experiments. **P < 0.01, by unpaired, 2-tailed Student’s t test.

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ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

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