scholarly journals Tubular transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif protects against ischemic acute kidney injury

2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (13) ◽  
pp. 1593-1612
Author(s):  
Chia-Lin Wu ◽  
Chia-Chu Chang ◽  
Tao-Hsiang Yang ◽  
Alexander Charng-Dar Tsai ◽  
Jui-Lin Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Transcriptional co-activator with PDZ-binding motif (TAZ) is a key downstream effector of the Hippo tumor-suppressor pathway. The functions of TAZ in the kidney, especially in tubular epithelial cells, are not well-known. To elucidate the adaptive expression, protective effects on kidney injury, and signaling pathways of TAZ in response to acute kidney injury (AKI), we used in vitro (hypoxia-treated human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells [RPTECs]) and in vivo (mouse ischemia–reperfusion injury [IRI]) models of ischemic AKI. After ischemic AKI, TAZ was up-regulated in RPTECs and the renal cortex or tubules. Up-regulation of TAZ in RPTECs subjected to hypoxia was controlled by IκB kinase (IKK)/nuclear factor κ-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cell (NF-κB) signaling. TAZ overexpression attenuated hypoxic and oxidative injury, inhibited apoptosis and activation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) proteins, and promoted wound healing in an RPTEC monolayer. However, TAZ knockdown aggravated hypoxic injury, apoptosis, and activation of p38 and JNK signaling, delayed wound closure of an RPTEC monolayer, and promoted G0/G1 phase cell-cycle arrest. Chloroquine and verteporfin treatment produced similar results to TAZ overexpression and knockdown in RPTECs, respectively. Compared with vehicle-treated mice, chloroquine treatment increased TAZ in the renal cortex and tubules, improved renal function, and attenuated tubular injury and tubular apoptosis after renal IRI, whereas TAZ siRNA and verteporfin decreased TAZ in the renal cortex and tubules, deteriorated renal failure and tubular injury, and aggravated tubular apoptosis. Our findings indicate the renoprotective role of tubular TAZ in ischemic AKI. Drugs augmenting (e.g., chloroquine) or suppressing (e.g., verteporfin) TAZ in the kidney might be beneficial or deleterious to patients with AKI.

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuyue Ma ◽  
Viviane Gnemmi ◽  
Anders Hans-Joachim ◽  
Stefanie Steiger

Abstract Background and Aims Acute kidney injury (AKI) and disease (AKD) are major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Hyperuricemia (HU) is common in patients with impaired kidney function. While there is no doubt that crystalline uric acid (UA) causes acute and chronic UA nephropathy, urolithiasis and kidney stone disease, the pathogenesis of asymptomatic HU in AKI/AKD is incompletely understood. In animal studies, elevated serum UA levels may lead to endothelial dysfunction, renin-angiotensin system activation and oxidative stress. However, such models do not mimic human HU. To overcome this issue, we established a model of AKI/AKD with clinically relevant serum UA levels and hypothesized that asymptomatic HU improves the outcomes after AKI/AKD by restoring metabolic activity and mitochondrial biogenesis in macrophages and tubular epithelial cells. Method Alb-creERT2;Glut9lox/lox and Glut9lox/lox control mice were injected with tamoxifen and placed on a chow diet enriched with inosine. Hyperuricemic mice (serum UA ≥7 mg/dL) and mice without HU (serum UA 4-5 mg/dL) underwent uninephrectomy followed by unilateral ischemia-reperfusion (IR) to induce AKI/AKD. Serum and kidneys were collected on day 3 and 14 after AKI/AKD, and kidney function, tubular injury, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, metabolic activity (fatty acid oxidation) and macrophage infiltration were quantified using GFR measurement, immunohistochemistry, colorimetric assays, electron microscopy, RT-PCR and flow cytometry. Results We observed an increase in serum UA levels from 7 to 10 mg/dL in hyperuricemic mice on day 3 after IR-induced AKI/AKD that returned to 7 mg/dL after 14 days (Figure left). While there was no difference in GFR between hyperuricemic and mice without HU with AKI/AKD on day 3, we found an improved kidney function in hyperuricemic mice on day 14 (Figure middle). This was associated with significantly less tubular injury and inflammation as well as an increase in the number of infiltrating anti-inflammatory M2-like macrophages as compared to mice without HU. Intrarenal mRNA expression level of the pro-oxidant heme-oxygenase-1 was reduced in hyperuricemic mice. However, the expression of anti-oxidant enzymes (Nrf-1 and Sod) and metabolic genes associated with fatty acid oxidation (Cpt1, Pparg, and Pgc1b) significantly increased as compared to mice without HU 14 days after AKI/AKD. In addition, HU increased the number of phospho-Histone-3 and intact proximal tubules and restored tubular mitochondrial morphology as indicated by an increased mitochondrial aspect ratio (Figure right). Conclusion Our data imply that asymptomatic HU improves kidney outcomes after IR-induced AKI/AKD because HU attenuates tubular injury and inflammation. In addition, we found that HU enhances the metabolic activity and anti-inflammatory M2-like macrophage polarization as well as restores mitochondrial biogenesis in tubular epithelial cells, suggesting that HU acts as antioxidant by improving kidney recovery after AKI/AKD.


Biology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodoros Eleftheriadis ◽  
Georgios Pissas ◽  
Georgia Antoniadi ◽  
Vassilios Liakopoulos ◽  
Ioannis Stefanidis

Ischemia–reperfusion injury contributes to the pathogenesis of many diseases, with acute kidney injury included. Hibernating mammals survive prolonged bouts of deep torpor with a dramatic drop in blood pressure, heart, and breathing rates, interspersed with short periods of arousal and, consequently, ischemia–reperfusion injury. Clarifying the differences under warm anoxia or reoxygenation between human cells and cells from a native hibernator may reveal interventions for rendering human cells resistant to ischemia–reperfusion injury. Human and hamster renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTECs) were cultured under warm anoxia or reoxygenation. Mouse RPTECs were used as a phylogenetic control for hamster cells. Cell death was assessed by both cell imaging and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay, apoptosis by cleaved caspase-3, autophagy by microtubule-associated protein 1-light chain 3 B II (LC3B-II) to LC3B-I ratio, necroptosis by phosphorylated mixed-lineage kinase domain-like pseudokinase, reactive oxygen species (ROS) fluorometrically, and lipid peroxidation, the end-point of ferroptosis, by malondialdehyde. Human cells died after short periods of warm anoxia or reoxygenation, whereas hamster cells were extremely resistant. In human cells, apoptosis contributed to cell death under both anoxia and reoxygenation. Although under reoxygenation, ROS increased in both human and hamster RPTECs, lipid peroxidation-induced cell death was detected only in human cells. Autophagy was observed only in human cells under both conditions. Necroptosis was not detected in any of the evaluated cells. Clarifying the ways that are responsible for hamster RPTECs escaping from apoptosis and lipid peroxidation-induced cell death may reveal interventions for preventing ischemia–reperfusion-induced acute kidney injury in humans.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Wang ◽  
Yan Xu

Abstract Background and Aims Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is the main cause for acute kidney injury, Nicotiflorin can ameliorate ischemia/reperfusion injury in other organs, just like in cerebral ischemic damage. Therefore, this article intends to explore whether Nicotiflorin has protective effects on renal tubular epithelial cell after ischemia-reperfusion. On the one hand, We use C57 mice to establish the Nicotiflorin group, DMSO group, AKI group, sham group and control group to investigate whether Nicotiflorin can ameliorate ischemia-reperfusion injury of kidney. In other hand, we use CCK8 to explore the optimal concentration of Nicotiflorin in renal tubular epithelial cells and find optimal hypoxia oxygenation time, in order to analysis the influence of Nicotiflorin. The results indicate that Nicotiflorin can alleviate ischemia-reperfusion injury by reducing apoptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells. Method In this study, we investigated the protective mechanism of Nicotiflorin on ischemic acute kidney injury by analyzing gene chip in patients with acute kidney injury and proving in vitro and in vivo experiments. The main methods are as follows: (1) Multiple nucleus ischemia-reperfusion model transcriptase data were selected from the NCBI GEO Datasets database and analyzed to screen out related proteins that may be involved in ischemia-reperfusion kidney injury; (2) The tertiary structure of Nicotiflorin and related proteins was obtained from the SWISS-MODEL database and the PubChem compound database. The molecular docking between protein and Nicotiflorin was performed using Autodock software, and the binding energy between Nicotiflorin and the selected protein was analyzed to determine Nicotiflorin binds to each other; (3) We set different groups, such as control group, sham group, AKI group, Nicotiflorin group and DMSO group in animals. The blood function was used to detect renal injury related function indicators 24 hours after modeling. Renal tissue samples were collected for real-time fluorescent RT-PCR, Western blotting and histopathological analysis; (4)Renal tubular epithelial cells were treated with different concentrations of Nicotiflorin, CCK8 was screened for the most appropriate concentration, and the hypoxic and reoxygenated cells were intervened at the concentration to explore the interaction between Nicotiflorin and the docking protein, and to observe the protective mechanism of Nicotiflorin on the kidney Results Conclusion Nicotiflorin binds to ATF3 and promotes the expression of Cyr61 through protein interactions to improve renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Stattau Bisgaard ◽  
Pernille M Christensen ◽  
Ernst-Martin Füchtbauer ◽  
Lars Bo Nielsen ◽  
Christina Christoffersen

Abstract Background and Aims Acute kidney injury is a severe disease with detrimental outcomes. The underlying ethiology is still elusive and besides dialysis, treatment options are poor. Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is mainly expressed in liver and in proximal tubular epithelial cells in the kidney. In plasma, apoM associates with HDL particles via a retained signal peptide. ApoM is a carrier of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a small bioactive lipid involved in e.g. angiogenesis, lymphocyte trafficking, and vascular barrier function. Recently, it was shown that apoM/S1P protects against development of liver and lung fibrosis. In urine, apoM is normally undetectable in both wild type mice and healthy humans. However, lack of megalin receptors in proximal tubuli induces loss of apoM into the urine. The biological function of kidney-derived apoM is unknown, but it has been hypothesized that apoM might be secreted to the pre-urine to sequester molecules, such as S1P, from secretion. The aim of this study was to unravel the role of apoM in kidney biology and in acute kidney injury. Method A novel kidney specific human apoM transgenic mouse (RPTEC-hapoMTG), was generated by expressing human apoM under the control of the proximal tubular epithelial cell specific Sglt2 promoter. The effect of kidney specific apoM overexpression on acute kidney injury was accessed by inducing either cisplatin or ischemia/reperfusion injury. Further, a stable cell line of HK-2 cells overexpressing hapoM (HK-2hapoM-TG) was generated and the cells were cultured on transwells to assess the secretion of apoM to respectively the apical and basolateral site. Results hapoM was present in plasma from RPTEC-hapoMTG mice (mean 0.18 μM), indicating that kidney-derived apoM can be secreted to plasma. When assessing the secretion of hapoM from proximal tubular epithelial cells in vitro, studies support that apoM can be secreted to both the apical (urine) and basolateral (blood) compartment. No differences in kidney injury markers (plasma urea and creatinine) between RPTEC-hapoMTG and wild type (WT) mice subjected to cisplatin injections, or in kidney injury score determined by histological evaluation was found. Similar, we could not detect any histological difference between RPTEC-hapoMTG and WT mice after ischemia/reperfusion injury, and overexpression of hapoM did not affect kidney gene expression of inflammatory markers (i.e. IL6, MCP-1) compared to WT mice. Conclusion Our study suggests that apoM can be secreted to both the apical and basolateral compartment, supporting a role for apoM in sequestering molecules from secretion in urine. Transgenic overexpression of apoM in proximal tubular epithelial cells of mice did not protect against acute kidney injury.


2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiu-Juan Liu ◽  
Quan Hong ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
Yan-Yan Yu ◽  
Xin Zou ◽  
...  

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is traditionally described as a condition leading to rapid damage to kidney function, eventually becoming a significant healthcare concern with a high mortality rate. Autophagy deficiency in the tubular epithelial cells is the main cause of AKI; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains to be defined. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are related to autophagy in many diseases. This study was aimed at investigating the relationship between miRNA expression and autophagic activity in the pathogenesis of AKI. Methods: A mouse model of AKI was produced by ischemia reperfusion (I/R). The expressions of microRNA-34a (miR-34a) and the autophagy-related protein LC3 II/I and p62 were determined in renal tissues and the tubular epithelial cells (RTECs). Moreover, the autophagic activity was investigated after miR-34a overexpression and inhibition. Additionally, the effect of miR-34a on its target gene in regulating autophagic activity in RTECs was also investigated. Results: I/R suppressed the autophagic activity and increased the expression of miR-34a in renal tissues. The in vitro data showed that the upregulation of miR-34a suppressed, whereas the inhibition of miR-34a promoted, autophagy in RTECs. Moreover, miR-34a could directly bind to Atg4B 3′-untranslated region. In addition, the knockdown of Atg4B expression inhibited the autophagic activity in RTECs. Conclusion: This study indicated that miR-34a might regulate the autophagic activity and can cause injury in I/R RTECs via targeting Atg4B.


2014 ◽  
Vol 306 (5) ◽  
pp. F496-F504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Novitskaya ◽  
Lee McDermott ◽  
Ke Xin Zhang ◽  
Takuto Chiba ◽  
Paisit Paueksakon ◽  
...  

Phenylthiobutanoic acids (PTBAs) are a new class of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors that accelerate recovery and reduce postinjury fibrosis after ischemia-reperfusion-induced acute kidney injury. However, unlike the more common scenario in which patients present with protracted and less clearly defined onset of renal injury, this model of acute kidney injury gives rise to a clearly defined injury that begins to resolve over a short period of time. In these studies, we show for the first time that treatment with the PTBA analog methyl-4-(phenylthio)butanoate (M4PTB) accelerates recovery and reduces postinjury fibrosis in a progressive model of acute kidney injury and renal fibrosis that occurs after aristolochic acid injection in mice. These effects are apparent when M4PTB treatment is delayed 4 days after the initiating injury and are associated with increased proliferation and decreased G2/M arrest of regenerating renal tubular epithelial cells. In addition, there is reduced peritubular macrophage infiltration and decreased expression of the macrophage chemokines CX3Cl1 and CCL2. Since macrophage infiltration plays a role in promoting kidney injury, and since renal tubular epithelial cells show defective repair and a marked increase in maladaptive G2/M arrest after aristolochic acid injury, these findings suggest M4PTB may be particularly beneficial in reducing injury and enhancing intrinsic cellular repair even when administered days after aristolochic acid ingestion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 304 (8) ◽  
pp. F1054-F1065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Punithavathi Ranganathan ◽  
Calpurnia Jayakumar ◽  
Ganesan Ramesh

Acute kidney injury-induced organ fibrosis is recognized as a major risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease, which remains one of the leading causes of death in the developed world. However, knowledge on molecules that may suppress the fibrogenic response after injury is lacking. In ischemic models of acute kidney injury, we demonstrate a new function of netrin-1 in regulating interstitial fibrosis. Acute injury was promptly followed by a rise in serum creatinine in both wild-type and netrin-1 transgenic animals. However, the wild-type showed a slow recovery of kidney function compared with netrin-1 transgenic animals and reached baseline by 3 wk. Histological examination showed increased infiltration of interstitial macrophages, extensive fibrosis, reduction of capillary density, and glomerulosclerosis. Collagen IV and α-smooth muscle actin expression was absent in sham-operated kidneys; however, their expression was significantly increased at 2 wk and peaked at 3 wk after reperfusion. These changes were reduced in the transgenic mouse kidney, which overexpresses netrin-1 in proximal tubular epithelial cells. Fibrosis was associated with increased expression of IL-6 and extensive and chronic activation of STAT3. Administration of IL-6 exacerbated fibrosis in vivo in wild-type, but not in netrin-1 transgenic mice kidney and increased collagen I expression and STAT3 activation in vitro in renal epithelial cells subjected to hypoxia-reoxygenation, which was suppressed by netrin-1. Our data suggest that proximal tubular epithelial cells may play a prominent role in interstitial fibrosis and that netrin-1 could be a useful therapeutic agent for treating kidney fibrosis.


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