Non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism by finerenone is sufficient to improve function in preclinical muscular dystrophy
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ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to test the novel non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) finerenone as a monotherapy in a preclinical Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) model. Microarray was used to detail gene expression differences in ventricular heart tissue from finerenone-treated dystrophin-deficient, utrophin-haploinsufficient Het (utrn+/−; mdx) mice versus untreated Het mice.
Project description:Mineralocorticoids play a critical role in maintaining sodium and potassium homeostasis and pathophysiological processes including hypertrophy, inflammation and fibrosis. Mineralocorticoid antagonists (MRAs) have shown to protect from kidney and heart disease, however, their molecular mechanism of action is poorly understood. Here we performed single nuclei and bulk transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility analysis to characterize the mode of kidney protection by steroidal and non-steroidal MRA treatment in a rat model of mineralocorticoid-induced cardiorenal end-organ damage. We define mineralocorticoid sensitive cell types and gene network in the kidney. We show that in diseased kidneys specific proximal tubule cells develop an injured profibrotic phenotype expressing Spp1 and Il34. Nonsteroidal finerenone protects from profibrotic differentiation of proximal tubule cells. Profibrotic gene signature can classify human kidney tissue samples and predict prognosis. Our multi-omics approach elucidates target cell types and potential mechanisms of renal protection by finerenone.
Project description:Mineralocorticoids play a critical role in maintaining sodium and potassium homeostasis and pathophysiological processes including hypertrophy, inflammation and fibrosis. Mineralocorticoid antagonists (MRAs) have shown to protect from kidney and heart disease, however, their molecular mechanism of action is poorly understood. Here we performed single nuclei and bulk transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility analysis to characterize the mode of kidney protection by steroidal and non-steroidal MRA treatment in a rat model of mineralocorticoid-induced cardiorenal end-organ damage. We define mineralocorticoid sensitive cell types and gene network in the kidney. We show that in diseased kidneys specific proximal tubule cells develop an injured profibrotic phenotype expressing Spp1 and Il34. Nonsteroidal finerenone protects from profibrotic differentiation of proximal tubule cells. Profibrotic gene signature can classify human kidney tissue samples and predict prognosis. Our multi-omics approach elucidates target cell types and potential mechanisms of renal protection by finerenone.
Project description:Mineralocorticoids play a critical role in maintaining sodium and potassium homeostasis and pathophysiological processes including hypertrophy, inflammation and fibrosis. Mineralocorticoid antagonists (MRAs) have shown to protect from kidney and heart disease, however, their molecular mechanism of action is poorly understood. Here we performed single nuclei and bulk transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility analysis to characterize the mode of kidney protection by steroidal and non-steroidal MRA treatment in a rat model of mineralocorticoid-induced cardiorenal end-organ damage. We define mineralocorticoid sensitive cell types and gene network in the kidney. We show that in diseased kidneys specific proximal tubule cells develop an injured profibrotic phenotype expressing Spp1 and Il34. Nonsteroidal finerenone protects from profibrotic differentiation of proximal tubule cells. Profibrotic gene signature can classify human kidney tissue samples and predict prognosis. Our multi-omics approach elucidates target cell types and potential mechanisms of renal protection by finerenone.
Project description:To identify the gene expression differences in skeletal muscles resulting from conditional knockout of the mineralocorticoid receptor in myofibers and myeloid cells in dystrophin-deficient mdx mice
Project description:Non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism by finerenone is sufficient to improve function in preclinical muscular dystrophy
Project description:Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle wasting disorder caused by dystrophin deficiency. Previous work suggested that increased expression of the dystrophin-related protein utrophin in the mdx mouse model of DMD can prevent dystrophic pathophysiology. Physiological tests showed that the transgenic mouse muscle functioned in a way similar to normal muscle. More recently, it has become possible to analyse disease pathways using microarrays, a sensitive method to evaluate the efficacy of a therapeutic approach. We thus examined the gene expression profile of mdx mouse muscle compared to normal mouse muscle and compared the data with that obtained from the transgenic line expressing utrophin. The data confirm that the expression of utrophin in the mdx mouse muscle results in a gene expression profile virtually identical to that seen for the normal mouse. This study confirms that a strategy to up-regulate utrophin is likely to be effective in preventing the disease. Experiment Overall Design: Here we have addressed important question of changes in the global gene expression profile of mdx mouse muscle compared to normal mouse muscle and compared the data with that obtained from the transgenic line (fiona) expressing high level of utrophin on mdx background.
Project description:Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle wasting disorder caused by dystrophin deficiency. Previous work suggested that increased expression of the dystrophin-related protein utrophin in the mdx mouse model of DMD can prevent dystrophic pathophysiology. Physiological tests showed that the transgenic mouse muscle functioned in a way similar to normal muscle. More recently, it has become possible to analyse disease pathways using microarrays, a sensitive method to evaluate the efficacy of a therapeutic approach. We thus examined the gene expression profile of mdx mouse muscle compared to normal mouse muscle and compared the data with that obtained from the transgenic line expressing utrophin. The data confirm that the expression of utrophin in the mdx mouse muscle results in a gene expression profile virtually identical to that seen for the normal mouse. This study confirms that a strategy to up-regulate utrophin is likely to be effective in preventing the disease. Keywords: Global gene expression profile
Project description:Comparison by expression profiling of tissue from dKO (utrophin/dystrophin-deficient) and MDX mice at 8 weeks of age. Independent triplicate analyses/strain were done for extraocular, hindlimb, and cardiac muscle.
Project description:Comparison by expression profiling of tissue from dKO (utrophin/dystrophin-deficient) and MDX mice at 8 weeks of age. Independent triplicate analyses/strain were done for extraocular, hindlimb, and cardiac muscle. Keywords = microarray Keywords = extraocular Keywords: parallel sample
Project description:Crossing of hDMD mice that contain the full-length 2.3 Mb hDMD gene were crossed with dystrophin-deficient mdx mice and dystrophin and utrophin double-deficient mdx x utrn-/- mice resulted in a full rescue of the dystrophic features of these mice, as concluded from histological analysis. Analysis on Affymetrix gene chips demonstrated that also expression profiles of the dystrophic mice were normalized by crossing with transgenic hDMD mice. This confirms the full functionality of the hDMD transgene in mice. Experiment Overall Design: RNA from gastrocnemius muscle from individual mice was hybridized to Affymetrix U74Av2