Nephrology
Abstract
An intact kidney filter is vital to retention of essential proteins in the blood and removal of waste from the body. Damage to the filtration barrier results in albumin loss in the urine, a hallmark of cardiovascular disease and kidney failure. Here we found that the ion channel TRPC5 mediates filtration barrier injury. Using
Authors
Thomas Schaldecker, Sookyung Kim, Constantine Tarabanis, Dequan Tian, Samy Hakroush, Philip Castonguay, Wooin Ahn, Hanna Wallentin, Hans Heid, Corey R. Hopkins, Craig W. Lindsley, Antonio Riccio, Lisa Buvall, Astrid Weins, Anna Greka
Abstract
Ferritin plays a central role in iron metabolism and is made of 24 subunits of 2 types: heavy chain and light chain. The ferritin heavy chain (FtH) has ferroxidase activity that is required for iron incorporation and limiting toxicity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of FtH in acute kidney injury (AKI) and renal iron handling by using proximal tubule–specific
Authors
Abolfazl Zarjou, Subhashini Bolisetty, Reny Joseph, Amie Traylor, Eugene O. Apostolov, Paolo Arosio, Jozsef Balla, Jill Verlander, Deepak Darshan, Lukas C. Kuhn, Anupam Agarwal
Abstract
DCs and macrophages both express the chemokine receptor CX3CR1. Here we demonstrate that its ligand, CX3CL1, is highly expressed in the murine kidney and intestine. CX3CR1 deficiency markedly reduced DC numbers in the healthy and inflamed kidney cortex, and to a lesser degree in the kidney medulla and intestine, but not in other organs. CX3CR1 also promoted influx of DC precursors in crescentic glomerulonephritis, a DC-dependent aggressive type of nephritis. Disease severity was strongly attenuated in CX3CR1-deficient mice. Primarily CX3CR1-dependent DCs in the kidney cortex processed antigen for the intrarenal stimulation of T helper cells, a function important for glomerulonephritis progression. In contrast, medullary DCs played a specialized role in inducing innate immunity against bacterial pyelonephritis by recruiting neutrophils through rapid chemokine production. CX3CR1 deficiency had little effect on the immune defense against pyelonephritis, as medullary DCs were less CX3CR1 dependent than cortical DCs and because recruited neutrophils produced chemokines to compensate for the DC paucity. These findings demonstrate that cortical and medullary DCs play specialized roles in their respective kidney compartments. We identify CX3CR1 as a potential therapeutic target in glomerulonephritis that may involve fewer adverse side effects, such as impaired anti-infectious defense or compromised DC functions in other organs.
Authors
Katharina Hochheiser, Christoph Heuser, Torsten A. Krause, Simon Teteris, Anissa Ilias, Christina Weisheit, Florian Hoss, André P. Tittel, Percy A. Knolle, Ulf Panzer, Daniel R. Engel, Pierre-Louis Tharaux, Christian Kurts
Abstract
Acute kidney injury predisposes patients to the development of both chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal failure, but the molecular details underlying this important clinical association remain obscure. We report that kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), an epithelial phosphatidylserine receptor expressed transiently after acute injury and chronically in fibrotic renal disease, promotes kidney fibrosis. Conditional expression of KIM-1 in renal epithelial cells (
Authors
Benjamin D. Humphreys, Fengfeng Xu, Venkata Sabbisetti, Ivica Grgic, Said Movahedi Naini, Ningning Wang, Guochun Chen, Sheng Xiao, Dhruti Patel, Joel M. Henderson, Takaharu Ichimura, Shan Mou, Savuth Soeung, Andrew P. McMahon, Vijay K. Kuchroo, Joseph V. Bonventre
Abstract
Nephrocalcinosis, acute calcium oxalate (CaOx) nephropathy, and renal stone disease can lead to inflammation and subsequent renal failure, but the underlying pathological mechanisms remain elusive. Other crystallopathies, such as gout, atherosclerosis, and asbestosis, trigger inflammation and tissue remodeling by inducing IL-1β secretion, leading us to hypothesize that CaOx crystals may induce inflammation in a similar manner. In mice, intrarenal CaOx deposition induced tubular damage, cytokine expression, neutrophil recruitment, and renal failure. We found that CaOx crystals activated murine renal DCs to secrete IL-1β through a pathway that included NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1. Despite a similar amount of crystal deposits, intrarenal inflammation, tubular damage, and renal dysfunction were abrogated in mice deficient in MyD88; NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1; IL-1R; or IL-18. Nephropathy was attenuated by DC depletion, ATP depletion, or therapeutic IL-1 antagonism. These data demonstrated that CaOx crystals trigger IL-1β–dependent innate immunity via the NLRP3/ASC/caspase-1 axis in intrarenal mononuclear phagocytes and directly damage tubular cells, leading to the release of the NLRP3 agonist ATP. Furthermore, these results suggest that IL-1β blockade may prevent renal damage in nephrocalcinosis.
Authors
Shrikant R. Mulay, Onkar P. Kulkarni, Khader V. Rupanagudi, Adriana Migliorini, Murthy N. Darisipudi, Akosua Vilaysane, Daniel Muruve, Yan Shi, Fay Munro, Helen Liapis, Hans-Joachim Anders
Abstract
Renal tubule epithelia represent the primary site of damage in acute kidney injury (AKI), a process initiated and propagated by the infiltration of macrophages. Here we investigated the role of resident renal macrophages and dendritic cells in recovery from AKI after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury or a novel diphtheria toxin–induced (DT-induced) model of selective proximal tubule injury in mice. DT-induced AKI was characterized by marked renal proximal tubular cell apoptosis. In both models, macrophage/dendritic cell depletion during the recovery phase increased functional and histologic injury and delayed regeneration. After I/R-induced AKI, there was an early increase in renal macrophages derived from circulating inflammatory (M1) monocytes, followed by accumulation of renal macrophages/dendritic cells with a wound-healing (M2) phenotype. In contrast, DT-induced AKI only generated an increase in M2 cells. In both models, increases in M2 cells resulted largely from in situ proliferation in the kidney. Genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1) signaling blocked macrophage/dendritic cell proliferation, decreased M2 polarization, and inhibited recovery. These findings demonstrated that CSF-1–mediated expansion and polarization of resident renal macrophages/dendritic cells is an important mechanism mediating renal tubule epithelial regeneration after AKI.
Authors
Ming-Zhi Zhang, Bing Yao, Shilin Yang, Li Jiang, Suwan Wang, Xiaofeng Fan, Huiyong Yin, Karlton Wong, Tomoki Miyazawa, Jianchun Chen, Ingrid Chang, Amar Singh, Raymond C. Harris
Abstract
Integrins are transmembrane αβ glycoproteins that connect the extracellular matrix to the cytoskeleton. The laminin-binding integrin α3β1 is expressed at high levels in lung epithelium and in kidney podocytes. In podocytes, α3β1 associates with the tetraspanin CD151 to maintain a functional filtration barrier. Here, we report on a patient homozygous for a novel missense mutation in the human ITGA3 gene, causing fatal interstitial lung disease and congenital nephrotic syndrome. The mutation caused an alanine-to-serine substitution in the integrin α3 subunit, thereby introducing an N-glycosylation motif at amino acid position 349. We expressed this mutant form of ITGA3 in murine podocytes and found that hyperglycosylation of the α3 precursor prevented its heterodimerization with β1, whereas CD151 association with the α3 subunit occurred normally. Consequently, the β1 precursor accumulated in the ER, and the mutant α3 precursor was degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Thus, these findings uncover a gain-of-glycosylation mutation in ITGA3 that prevents the biosynthesis of functional α3β1, causing a fatal multiorgan disorder.
Authors
Nayia Nicolaou, Coert Margadant, Sietske H. Kevelam, Marc R. Lilien, Michiel J.S. Oosterveld, Maaike Kreft, Albertien M. van Eerde, Rolph Pfundt, Paulien A. Terhal, Bert van der Zwaag, Peter G.J. Nikkels, Norman Sachs, Roel Goldschmeding, Nine V.A.M. Knoers, Kirsten Y. Renkema, Arnoud Sonnenberg
Abstract
Tight regulation of calcium levels is required for many critical biological functions. The Ca2+-sensing receptor (CaSR) expressed by parathyroid cells controls blood calcium concentration by regulating parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion. However, CaSR is also expressed in other organs, such as the kidney, but the importance of extraparathyroid CaSR in calcium metabolism remains unknown. Here, we investigated the role of extraparathyroid CaSR using thyroparathyroidectomized, PTH-supplemented rats. Chronic inhibition of CaSR selectively increased renal tubular calcium absorption and blood calcium concentration independent of PTH secretion change and without altering intestinal calcium absorption. CaSR inhibition increased blood calcium concentration in animals pretreated with a bisphosphonate, indicating that the increase did not result from release of bone calcium. Kidney CaSR was expressed primarily in the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle (TAL). As measured by in vitro microperfusion of cortical TAL, CaSR inhibitors increased calcium reabsorption and paracellular pathway permeability but did not change NaCl reabsorption. We conclude that CaSR is a direct determinant of blood calcium concentration, independent of PTH, and modulates renal tubular calcium transport in the TAL via the permeability of the paracellular pathway. These findings suggest that CaSR inhibitors may provide a new specific treatment for disorders related to impaired PTH secretion, such as primary hypoparathyroidism.
Authors
Alexandre Loupy, Suresh Krishna Ramakrishnan, Bharath Wootla, Régine Chambrey, Renaud de la Faille, Soline Bourgeois, Patrick Bruneval, Chantal Mandet, Erik Ilso Christensen, Hélène Faure, Lydie Cheval, Kamel Laghmani, Corinne Collet, Dominique Eladari, Robert H. Dodd, Martial Ruat, Pascal Houillier
Abstract
The morphology of healthy podocyte foot processes is necessary for maintaining the characteristics of the kidney filtration barrier. In most forms of glomerular disease, abnormal filter barrier function results when podocytes undergo foot process spreading and retraction by remodeling their cytoskeletal architecture and intercellular junctions during a process known as effacement. The cell adhesion protein nephrin is necessary for establishing the morphology of the kidney podocyte in development by transducing from the specialized podocyte intercellular junction phosphorylation-mediated signals that regulate cytoskeletal dynamics. The present studies extend our understanding of nephrin function by showing that nephrin activation in cultured podocytes induced actin dynamics necessary for lamellipodial protrusion. This process required a PI3K-, Cas-, and Crk1/2-dependent signaling mechanism distinct from the previously described nephrin-Nck1/2 pathway necessary for assembly and polymerization of actin filaments. Our present findings also support the hypothesis that mechanisms governing lamellipodial protrusion in culture are similar to those used in vivo during foot process effacement in a subset of glomerular diseases. In mice, podocyte-specific deletion of Crk1/2 prevented foot process effacement in one model of podocyte injury and attenuated foot process effacement and associated proteinuria in a delayed fashion in a second model. In humans, focal adhesion kinase and Cas phosphorylation — markers of focal adhesion complex–mediated Crk-dependent signaling — was induced in minimal change disease and membranous nephropathy, but not focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Together, these observations suggest that activation of a Cas-Crk1/2–dependent complex is necessary for foot process effacement observed in distinct subsets of human glomerular diseases.
Authors
Britta George, Rakesh Verma, Abdulsalam A. Soofi, Puneet Garg, Jidong Zhang, Tae-Ju Park, Laura Giardino, Larisa Ryzhova, Duncan B. Johnstone, Hetty Wong, Deepak Nihalani, David J. Salant, Steven K. Hanks, Tom Curran, Maria Pia Rastaldi, Lawrence B. Holzman
Abstract
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a potentially life-threatening condition. It often occurs after gastrointestinal infection with E. coli O157:H7, which produces Shiga toxins (Stx) that cause hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and renal injury. Stx-mediated changes in endothelial phenotype have been linked to the pathogenesis of HUS. Here we report our studies investigating Stx-induced changes in gene expression and their contribution to the pathogenesis of HUS. Stx function by inactivating host ribosomes but can also alter gene expression at concentrations that minimally affect global protein synthesis. Gene expression profiling of human microvascular endothelium treated with Stx implicated a role for activation of CXCR4 and CXCR7 by their shared cognate chemokine ligand (stromal cell–derived factor-1 [SDF-1]) in Stx-mediated pathophysiology. The changes in gene expression required a catalytically active Stx A subunit and were mediated by enhanced transcription and mRNA stability. Stx also enhanced the association of CXCR4, CXCR7, and SDF1 mRNAs with ribosomes. In a mouse model of Stx-mediated pathology, we noted changes in plasma and tissue content of CXCR4, CXCR7, and SDF-1 after Stx exposure. Furthermore, inhibition of the CXCR4/SDF-1 interaction decreased endothelial activation and organ injury and improved animal survival. Finally, in children infected with E. coli O157:H7, plasma SDF-1 levels were elevated in individuals who progressed to HUS. Collectively, these data implicate the CXCR4/CXCR7/SDF-1 pathway in Stx-mediated pathogenesis and suggest novel therapeutic strategies for prevention and/or treatment of complications associated with E. coli O157:H7 infection.
Authors
Tania N. Petruzziello-Pellegrini, Darren A. Yuen, Andrea V. Page, Sajedabanu Patel, Anna M. Soltyk, Charles C. Matouk, Dennis K. Wong, Paul J. Turgeon, Jason E. Fish, J.J. David Ho, Brent M. Steer, Vahid Khajoee, Jayesh Tigdi, Warren L. Lee, David G. Motto, Andrew Advani, Richard E. Gilbert, S. Ananth Karumanchi, Lisa A. Robinson, Phillip I. Tarr, W. Conrad Liles, James L. Brunton, Philip A. Marsden
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)