Dataset Information

Transcriptional Programs Driving Shear Stress-Induced Differentiation of Kidney Proximal Tubule Cells in Culture.

ABSTRACT: Cultured cell models are an essential complement to dissecting kidney proximal tubule (PT) function in health and disease but do not fully recapitulate key features of this nephron segment. We recently determined that culture of opossum kidney (OK) cells under continuous orbital shear stress (OSS) significantly augments their morphological and functional resemblance to PTs in vivo. Here we used RNASeq to identify temporal transcriptional changes upon cell culture under static or shear stress conditions. Comparison of gene expression in cells cultured under static or OSS conditions with a database of rat nephron segment gene expression confirms that OK cells cultured under OSS are more similar to the PT in vivo compared with cells maintained under static conditions. Both improved oxygenation and mechanosensitive stimuli contribute to the enhanced differentiation in these cells, and we identified temporal changes in gene expression of known mechanosensitive targets. We observed changes in mRNA and protein levels of membrane trafficking components that may contribute to the enhanced endocytic capacity of cells cultured under OSS. Our data reveal pathways that may be critical for PT differentiation in vivo and validate the utility of this improved cell culture model as a tool to study PT function.

SUBMITTER: Park HJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7662153 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Transcriptional Programs Driving Shear Stress-Induced Differentiation of Kidney Proximal Tubule Cells in Culture.

Park Hyun Jung HJ Fan Zhenjiang Z Bai Yulong Y Ren Qidong Q Rbaibi Youssef Y Long Kimberly R KR Gliozzi Megan L ML Rittenhouse Natalie N Locker Joseph D JD Poholek Amanda C AC Weisz Ora A OA

Frontiers in physiology 20201030

Cultured cell models are an essential complement to dissecting kidney proximal tubule (PT) function in health and disease but do not fully recapitulate key features of this nephron segment. We recently determined that culture of opossum kidney (OK) cells under continuous orbital shear stress (OSS) significantly augments their morphological and functional resemblance to PTs <i>in vivo</i>. Here we used RNASeq to identify temporal transcriptional changes upon cell culture under static or shear str ...[more]

PMID: 33192601

Similar Datasets

Project description:Cells lining the proximal tubule (PT) have unique membrane specializations that are required to maintain the high-capacity ion transport and endocytic functions of this nephron segment. PT cells in vivo acutely regulate ion transport in response to changes in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) to maintain glomerulotubular balance. PT cells in culture up-regulate endocytic capacity in response to acute changes in fluid shear stress (FSS); however, it is not known whether GFR modulates PT endocytosis to enable maximally efficient uptake of filtered proteins in vivo. Here, we show that cells cultured under continuous FSS develop an expanded apical endocytic pathway and increased endocytic capacity and lysosomal biogenesis. Furthermore, endocytic capacity in fully differentiated cells is rapidly modulated by changes in FSS. PT cells exposed to continuous FSS also acquired an extensive brush border and basolateral membrane invaginations resembling those observed in vivo. Culture under suboptimal levels of FSS led to intermediate phenotypes, suggesting a threshold effect. Cells exposed to FSS expressed higher levels of key proteins necessary for PT function, including ion transporters, receptors, and membrane-trafficking machinery, and increased adenine nucleotide levels. Inhibition of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) using rapamycin prevented the increase in cellular energy levels, lysosomal biogenesis, and endocytic uptake, suggesting that these represent a coordinated differentiation program. In contrast, rapamycin did not prevent the FSS-induced increase in Na+/K+-ATPase levels. Our data suggest that rapid tuning of the endocytic response by changes in FSS may contribute to glomerulotubular balance in vivo. Moreover, FSS provides an essential stimulus in the differentiation of PT cells via separate pathways that up-regulate endocytosis and ion transport capacity. Variations in FSS may also contribute to the maturation of PT cells during kidney development and during repair after kidney injury.

Project description:Proximal tubule (PT) cells maintain a high-capacity apical endocytic pathway to recover essentially all proteins that escape the glomerular filtration barrier. The multiligand receptors megalin and cubilin play pivotal roles in the endocytic uptake of normally filtered proteins in PT cells but also contribute to the uptake of nephrotoxic drugs, including aminoglycosides. We previously demonstrated that opossum kidney (OK) cells cultured under continuous fluid shear stress (FSS) are superior to cells cultured under static conditions in recapitulating essential functional properties of PT cells in vivo. To identify drivers of the high-capacity, efficient endocytic pathway in the PT, we compared FSS-cultured OK cells with less endocytically active static-cultured OK cells. Megalin and cubilin expression are increased, and endocytic uptake of albumin in FSS-cultured cells is >5-fold higher compared with cells cultured under static conditions. To understand how differences in receptor expression, distribution, and trafficking rates contribute to increased uptake, we used biochemical, morphological, and mathematical modeling approaches to compare megalin traffic in FSS- versus static-cultured OK cells. Our model predicts that culturing cells under FSS increases the rates of all steps in megalin trafficking. Importantly, the model explains why, despite seemingly counterintuitive observations (a reduced fraction of megalin at the cell surface, higher colocalization with lysosomes, and a shorter half-life of surface-tagged megalin in FSS-cultured cells), uptake of albumin is dramatically increased compared with static-grown cells. We also show that FSS-cultured OK cells more accurately exhibit the mechanisms that mediate uptake of nephrotoxic drugs in vivo compared with static-grown cells. This culture model thus provides a useful platform to understand drug uptake mechanisms, with implications for developing interventions in nephrotoxic injury prevention.

Project description:PBRM1 is the 2nd-most frequently inactivated gene in clear cell renal cell cancer (RCC) but the oncogenic mechanisms, and hence methods for correction, are unclear. PBRM1 is a subunit of the PBAF coactivator complex that transcription factors use to reposition nucleosomes (‘open chromatin’) for gene activation. We therefore looked for transcription factors that recruit endogenous PBRM1 in kidney lineage/RCC cells, as a waypoint to identifying pathways impacted by PBRM1 loss. Unbiased immunoprecipitation/mass-spectrometry analyses of the endogenous PBRM1 interactome in kidney lineage cells revealed PAX8, a master transcription factor essential for proximal tubule epithelial fates, as the major transcription factor recruiting PBRM1/PBAF. The reverse analyses of the PAX8 interactome confirmed recruitment specifically of PBRM1/PBAF, and not the functionally similar BAF coactivator complex. More conspicuous in the PAX8 hub in RCC cells, however, were several corepressors, e.g. DNMT1, which oppose coactivators to repress instead of activate genes. Accordingly, key PAX8 target genes, e.g., GATA3, LHX1, WT1, and ~1000 other downstream kidney epithelial genes, but not PAX8 or PAX2, demonstrated loss of the histone lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) activation mark, increase in CpG methylation repression marks, and lower expression in RCC vs normal kidney cortex, with the greatest repression in cases with bi-allelic PBRM1 inactivation. PBRM1 re-introduction into RCC cells, or depletion of the corepressor DNMT1 using siRNA or a clinical drug decitabine, rebalanced composition and function of the PAX8 transcription factor hub to coactivators, to thereby activate terminal epithelial-fates in vitro and in vivo. In sum, PBRM1 loss in RCC cells skews coregulator composition of the PAX8 master transcription factor hub toward corepressors and repression instead of activation of the downstream terminal epithelial-program; this oncogenic action could be reversed by pharmacologic corepressor depletion/inhibition.

Dataset Information

Transcriptional Programs Driving Shear Stress-Induced Differentiation of Kidney Proximal Tubule Cells in Culture.

Publications

Transcriptional Programs Driving Shear Stress-Induced Differentiation of Kidney Proximal Tubule Cells in Culture.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets