Nephrology
Abstract
Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common human monogenic genetic disorder and is characterized by progressive bilateral renal cysts and the development of renal insufficiency. The cystogenesis of ADPKD is believed to be a monoclonal proliferation of PKD-deficient (PKD–/–) renal tubular epithelial cells. To define the function of Pkd1, we generated chimeric mice by aggregation of Pkd1–/– ES cells and Pkd1+/+ morulae from ROSA26 mice. As occurs in humans with ADPKD, these mice developed cysts in the kidney, liver, and pancreas. Surprisingly, the cyst epithelia of the kidney were composed of both Pkd1–/– and Pkd1+/+ renal tubular epithelial cells in the early stages of cystogenesis. Pkd1–/– cyst epithelial cells changed in shape from cuboidal to flat and replaced Pkd1+/+ cyst epithelial cells lost by JNK-mediated apoptosis in intermediate stages. In late-stage cysts, Pkd1–/– cells continued immortalized proliferation with downregulation of p53. These results provide a novel understanding of the cystogenesis of ADPKD patients. Furthermore, immortalized proliferation without induction of p53 was frequently observed in 3T3-type culture of mouse embryonic fibroblasts from Pkd1–/– mice. Thus, Pkd1 plays a role in preventing immortalized proliferation of renal tubular epithelial cells through the induction of p53 and activation of JNK.
Authors
Saori Nishio, Masahiko Hatano, Michio Nagata, Shigeo Horie, Takao Koike, Takeshi Tokuhisa, Toshio Mochizuki
Abstract
Neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (Ngal), also known as siderocalin, forms a complex with iron-binding siderophores (Ngal:siderophore:Fe). This complex converts renal progenitors into epithelial tubules. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that Ngal:siderophore:Fe protects adult kidney epithelial cells or accelerates their recovery from damage. Using a mouse model of severe renal failure, ischemia-reperfusion injury, we show that a single dose of Ngal (10 μg), introduced during the initial phase of the disease, dramatically protects the kidney and mitigates azotemia. Ngal activity depends on delivery of the protein and its siderophore to the proximal tubule. Iron must also be delivered, since blockade of the siderophore with gallium inhibits the rescue from ischemia. The Ngal:siderophore:Fe complex upregulates heme oxygenase-1, a protective enzyme, preserves proximal tubule N-cadherin, and inhibits cell death. Because mouse urine contains an Ngal-dependent siderophore-like activity, endogenous Ngal might also play a protective role. Indeed, Ngal is highly accumulated in the human kidney cortical tubules and in the blood and urine after nephrotoxic and ischemic injury. We reveal what we believe to be a novel pathway of iron traffic that is activated in human and mouse renal diseases, and it provides a unique method for their treatment.
Authors
Kiyoshi Mori, H. Thomas Lee, Dana Rapoport, Ian R. Drexler, Kirk Foster, Jun Yang, Kai M. Schmidt-Ott, Xia Chen, Jau Yi Li, Stacey Weiss, Jaya Mishra, Faisal H. Cheema, Glenn Markowitz, Takayoshi Suganami, Kazutomo Sawai, Masashi Mukoyama, Cheryl Kunis, Vivette D’Agati, Prasad Devarajan, Jonathan Barasch
Abstract
Authors
Veronique Chauvet, Xin Tian, Herve Husson, David H. Grimm, Tong Wang, Thomas Hieseberger, Peter Igarashi, Anton M. Bennett, Oxana Ibraghimov-Beskrovnaya, Stefan Somlo, Michael J. Caplan
Abstract
Authors
Jorma Wartiovaara, Lars-Göran Öfverstedt, Jamshid Khoshnoodi, Jingjing Zhang, Eetu Mäkelä, Sara Sandin, Vesas Ruotsalainen, R. Holland Cheng, Hannu Jalanko, Ulf Skoglund, Karl Tryggvason
Abstract
Polycystin-1, which is encoded by a gene that is mutated in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), is involved in cell-matrix interactions as well as in ciliary signaling. The precise mechanisms by which it functions, however, remain unclear. Here we find that polycystin-1 undergoes a proteolytic cleavage that releases its C-terminal tail (CTT), which enters the nucleus and initiates signaling processes. The cleavage occurs in vivo in association with alterations in mechanical stimuli. Polycystin-2, the product of the second gene mutated in ADPKD, modulates the signaling properties of the polycystin-1 CTT. These data reveal a novel pathway by which polycystin-1 transmits messages directly to the nucleus.
Authors
Veronique Chauvet, Xin Tian, Herve Husson, David H. Grimm, Tong Wang, Thomas Hieseberger, Peter Igarashi, Anton M. Bennett, Oxana Ibraghimov-Beskrovnaya, Stefan Somlo, Michael J. Caplan
Abstract
Nephrin is a key functional component of the slit diaphragm, the structurally unresolved molecular filter in renal glomerular capillaries. Abnormal nephrin or its absence results in severe proteinuria and loss of the slit diaphragm. The diaphragm is a thin extracellular membrane spanning the approximately 40-nm-wide filtration slit between podocyte foot processes covering the capillary surface. Using electron tomography, we show that the slit diaphragm comprises a network of winding molecular strands with pores the same size as or smaller than albumin molecules, as demonstrated in humans, rats, and mice. In the network, which is occasionally stratified, immunogold-nephrin antibodies labeled individually detectable globular cross strands, about 35 nm in length, lining the lateral elongated pores. The cross strands, emanating from both sides of the slit, contacted at the slit center but had free distal endings. Shorter strands associated with the cross strands were observed at their base. Immunolabeling of recombinant nephrin molecules on transfected cells and in vitrified solution corroborated the findings in kidney. Nephrin-deficient proteinuric patients with Finnish-type congenital nephrosis and nephrin-knockout mice had only narrow filtration slits that lacked the slit diaphragm network and the 35-nm-long strands but contained shorter molecular structures. The results suggest the direct involvement of nephrin molecules in constituting the macromolecule-retaining slit diaphragm and its pores.
Authors
Jorma Wartiovaara, Lars-Göran Öfverstedt, Jamshid Khoshnoodi, Jingjing Zhang, Eetu Mäkelä, Sara Sandin, Vesa Ruotsalainen, R. Holland Cheng, Hannu Jalanko, Ulf Skoglund, Karl Tryggvason
Abstract
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive and fatal fibrotic disease of the lungs with unclear etiology. Prior efforts to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis that focused on anti-inflammatory therapy have not proven to be effective. Recent insight suggests that the pathogenesis is mediated through foci of dysregulated fibroblasts driven by profibrotic cytokine signaling. TGF-β and PDGF are 2 of the most potent of these cytokines. In the current study, we investigated the role of TGF-β–induced fibrosis mediated by activation of the Abelson (Abl) tyrosine kinase. Our data indicate that fibroblasts respond to TGF-β by stimulating c-Abl kinase activity independently of Smad2/3 phosphorylation or PDGFR activation. Moreover, inhibition of c-Abl by imatinib prevented TGF-β–induced ECM gene expression, morphologic transformation, and cell proliferation independently of any effect on Smad signaling. Further, using a mouse model of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis, we found a significant inhibition of lung fibrosis by imatinib. Thus, Abl family members represent common targets for the modulation of profibrotic cytokine signaling.
Authors
Craig E. Daniels, Mark C. Wilkes, Maryanne Edens, Ted J. Kottom, Stephen J. Murphy, Andrew H. Limper, Edward B. Leof
Abstract
Many adult organs contain stem cells, which are pluripotent and are involved in organ maintenance and repair after injury. In situ, these cells often have a low cycling rate and locate in specialized regions (niches). To detect such cells in the kidney, we administered a pulse of the nucleotide bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to rat and mouse pups and, after a long (more than 2-month) chase, examined whether the kidney contained a population of low-cycling cells. We found that in the adult kidney, BrdU-retaining cells were very sparse except in the renal papilla, where they were numerous. During the repair phase of transient renal ischemia, these cells entered the cell cycle and the BrdU signal quickly disappeared from the papilla, despite the absence of apoptosis in this part of the kidney. In vitro isolation of renal papillary cells showed them to have a plastic phenotype that could be modulated by oxygen tension and that when injected into the renal cortex, they incorporated into the renal parenchyma. In addition, like other stem cells, papillary cells spontaneously formed spheres. Single-cell clones of these cells coexpressed mesenchymal and epithelial proteins and gave rise to myofibroblasts, cells expressing neuronal markers, and cells of uncharacterized phenotype. These data indicate that the renal papilla is a niche for adult kidney stem cells.
Authors
Juan A. Oliver, Omar Maarouf, Faisal H. Cheema, Timothy P. Martens, Qais Al-Awqati
Abstract
Adenosine coordinates organ metabolism and blood supply, and it modulates immune responses. In the kidney it mediates the vascular response elicited by changes in NaCl concentration in the macula densa region of the nephron, thereby serving as an important regulator of GFR. To determine whether adenosine formation depends on extracellular nucleotide hydrolysis, we studied NaCl-dependent GFR regulation (tubuloglomerular feedback) in mice with targeted deletion of ecto-5′-nucleotidase/CD73 (e-5′NT/CD73), the enzyme responsible for adenosine formation from AMP. e-5′NT/CD73–/– mice were viable and showed no gross anatomical abnormalities. Blood pressure, blood and urine chemistry, and renal blood flow were not different between e-5′NT/CD73+/+ and e-5′NT/CD73–/– mice. e-5′NT/CD73–/– mice had a significantly reduced fall in stop flow pressure and superficial nephron glomerular filtration rate in response to a saturating increase of tubular perfusion flow. Furthermore, whereas tubuloglomerular feedback responses did not change significantly during prolonged loop of Henle perfusion in e-5′NT/CD73+/+ mice, a complete disappearance of the residual feedback response was noted in e-5′NT/CD73–/– mice over 10 minutes of perfusion. The contractile response of isolated afferent arterioles to adenosine was normal in e-5′NT/CD73–/– mice. We conclude that the generation of adenosine at the glomerular pole depends to a major extent on e-5′NT/CD73–mediated dephosphorylation of 5′-AMP, presumably generated from released ATP.
Authors
Hayo Castrop, Yuning Huang, Seiji Hashimoto, Diane Mizel, Pernille Hansen, Franziska Theilig, Sebastian Bachmann, Chuxia Deng, Josie Briggs, Jurgen Schnermann
Abstract
In collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) of HIV-associated nephropathy (HIVAN), podocytes exhibit a high proliferation rate and loss of differentiation markers. We have found previously that the nef gene of HIV-1 is responsible for these changes. Here, we investigated the signaling pathways induced by Nef and its role in the pathogenesis of HIVAN. Using conditionally immortalized podocytes after differentiation, we found that infection of podocytes with nef increased Src kinase activity and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) phosphorylation and activated the Ras–c-Raf–MAPK1,2 pathway. A dominant negative mutant of Src abolished the Nef effect, whereas inhibition of MAPK1,2 or dominant negative Stat3 reduced Nef effects partially. Reducing the expression of Nef with small interference RNA reversed the Nef effect. Mutation of Nef in the PxxP or R105R106 motifs diminished Nef signaling and the phenotypic changes in podocytes. Both phospho-MAPK1,2 and phospho-Stat3 staining increased in podocytes of kidneys from HIV-1 transgenic mice compared with their littermates and in podocytes of kidneys from HIVAN patients compared with HIV patients with non-HIVAN kidney diseases or non-HIV patients with idiopathic FSGS, classic FSGS, or minimal-change disease. These data suggest that Nef-induced activation of Stat3 and Ras-MAPK1,2 via Src-dependent pathways is responsible for podocyte proliferation and dedifferentiation, a characteristic finding in collapsing FSGS of HIVAN.
Authors
John Cijiang He, Mohammad Husain, Masaaki Sunamoto, Vivette D. D’Agati, Mary E. Klotman, Ravi Iyengar, Paul E. Klotman
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)