Identification of the H+-K+-ATPase ATP4A as hypoxia-regulated target for acute kidney injury prevention
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ABSTRACT: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is the most common disease in critically ill patients and it is an important factor in the increase of morbidity and mortality yet the therapeutic strategy for AKI prevention is not established. Hypoxia Inducible Factors (HIFs) have been studied that play an important role during AKI to reduce its severity. Here we investigated to identify the novel therapeutic target of HIF2A during ischemic AKI. We performed microarray with the vechle- or PT2385 (HIF2A specific inhibitor) to find the downstream gene of Hif2a and identified that H+-K+-ATPase Atp4a was a leading candidate of HIF2A targeted gene which was suppressed by HIF2A in the tubular epithelial cell. We further uncovered that pharmacological inhibition of Atp4a or genetic deletion of Atp4a reduced AKI during renal ischemia and reperfusion.
Project description:Adipose tissue plays an important role in the regulation of wholebody energy homeostasis, depending on external environments. Upon cold acclimation, brown and beige adipocytes dissipate mitochondrial proton gradient generating heat via uncoupling protein 1. Due to increasing demands for oxygen during thermogenesis, adipose tissue could become hypoxic upon cold exposure. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are one of the major transcription factors which are involved in various cellular responses under hypoxic condition. Although HIFs regulate diverse metabolic processes with selective target gene expression, their roles in thermogenic adipocytes are still elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that adipocyte HIF2a regulate thermogenic activity upon cold stimuli. To investigate molecular mechanisms of adipocyte HIF2a upon thermoneutral and cold exposure, we report the transcriptomes of inguinal adipose tissue from WT and adipocyte specific HIF2a knock-out mice.
Project description:Triple Negative Breast cancer accounts for some of the most aggressive types of breast cancer. By interrogating clinical datasets, we found that the activities of p63 and Hypoxia-Inducible-Factors (HIFs), two master regulators of the invasive and metastatic cancer cell phenotype are linked in TNBC through the p63-target Sharp1. Mechanistically, Sharp1 promotes HIF-1α/HIF-2α proteasomal degradation by serving as HIFs presenting factor to the proteasome independently from oxygen levels and prior ubiquitination. To investigate unbiasedly if Sharp1 is a general inhibitor of HIF induced transcriptional program, we compared the transcriptomic profile of cells either overexpressing Sharp1 or depleted of HIF1a and HIF2a. We collected RNA from control MDA-MB-231 cells (shGFP) or MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing Sharp1 or MDA-MB-231 cells depleted of HIF1a and HIF2a (shHIF). Cells were left untreated in normal culturing conditions before harvesting. Samples were then processed for total RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Four biological replicas (A, B, C, D) were used for each of the 4 conditions (1: shGFP, control cells; 2: shHIF cells; 3: Sharp1-overexpressing cells) for a total of 12 samples.
Project description:Remote lung injury after acute kidney inkury (AKI) is a common issue in humans and is lethal especially in critically-ill patients. We investigated kidney-lung interactions following AKI using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of kidney and lung in a murine AKI model.
Project description:HIF2a function is both necessary and sufficient for the growth of VHL-null clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC). Targeting HIF2a function can therefore be a promising therapeutic strategy. We used microarray analysis to characterize a novel pharmacological inhibitor of HIF2a named PT2399. By comparing genes that are responsive to PT2399 in parental cells vs cells lacking HIF2a, by virtue of CRISPR-mediated genetic editing, we characterized gene signatures that are regulated by PT2399 in a HIF2a dependent manner. Cells were treated with either DMSO (control) or 2uM PT2399 for indicated time periods, total RNA was extracted and analyzed. Please note that the experiments with 786O Parental and HIF2a null cells were conducted independently.
Project description:Acute kidney injury (AKI) represents a common complication in critically ill patients that is associated with an increased morbidity and mortality. Currently, no effective treatment options are available. Here, we show that glutamine significantly attenuates leukocyte recruitment and inflammatory signaling in human and murine tubular epithelial cells (TECs). In a murine AKI model induced by ischemia-reperfusion-injury (IRI) we show that glutamine causes transcriptomic and proteomic reprogramming in renal TECs and neutrophils, resulting in decreased epithelial apoptosis, neutrophil recruitment and improved mitochondrial functionality and respiration provoked by an ameliorated oxidative phosphorylation. We identify the proteins glutamine gamma glutamyltransferase 2 (Tgm2) and apoptosis signal-regulating kinase (Ask1) as the major targets of glutamine in apoptotic signaling. Increased Tgm2 expression and reduced Ask1 activation result in decreased JNK activation leading to a diminished mitochondrial intrinsic apoptosis in kidneys upon IRI-induced AKI and under hypoxia or following TNFα-treatment of TECs. Consequently, glutamine administration attenuated kidney injury in vivo during AKI progression as well as TEC viability in vitro under inflammatory and hypoxic conditions.
Project description:Triple Negative Breast cancer accounts for some of the most aggressive types of breast cancer. By interrogating clinical datasets, we found that the activities of p63 and Hypoxia-Inducible-Factors (HIFs), two master regulators of the invasive and metastatic cancer cell phenotype are linked in TNBC through the p63-target Sharp1. Mechanistically, Sharp1 promotes HIF-1α/HIF-2α proteasomal degradation by serving as HIFs presenting factor to the proteasome independently from oxygen levels and prior ubiquitination. To investigate unbiasedly if Sharp1 is a general inhibitor of HIF induced transcriptional program, we compared the transcriptomic profile of cells either overexpressing Sharp1 or depleted of HIF1a and HIF2a.
Project description:Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a global public health concern associated with high morbidity and mortality, and currently no therapeutic interventions reliably limit injury or speed recovery after AKI. Therefore, strategies to augment endogenous repair processes and retard associated profibrotic responses are urgently required. Among them, macrophages are attractive therapeutic targets for AKI because of their critical roles in tissue homeostasis and inflammation. Despite the differentiation of macrophages into morphologically and functionally distinct phenotypes M1/M2 and their clearance of dead cells (efferocytosis) have been increasingly linked to renal inflammation and repair in AKI, the underlying mechanisms of macrophage phenotype switching and efferocytosis during AKI are largely unclear. Here, we found that JAML (junctional adhesion molecule-like protein) deficiency protected against renal AKI. By generation of bone marrow chimeric mice and tubular-specific JAML conditional knockout mice, we demonstrated macrophage JAML primarily contributed to AKI. Mechanistically, JAML mediated macrophage phenotype polarization and efferocytosis, at least in part, through a C-type lectin receptor Mincle-dependent mechanism. In addition, we also found that JAML could induce endogenous Mincle ligand such as SAP130 release from dead or dying renal tubular epithelial cells and subsequent Mincle activation in macrophages, thereby also slightly contributing to AKI. Importantly, we observed a higher expression of JAML in the kidney from subjects with AKI and the level of JAML was correlated with serum creatinine. Collectively, our studies for the first time explore new biological functions of JAML in macrophages and conclude that JAML is an important mediator and biomarker of AKI. Pharmacologic targeting of JAML-Mincle mediated signaling pathways may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with AKI.
Project description:HIF2a function is both necessary and sufficient for the growth of VHL-null clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC). Targeting HIF2a function can therefore be a promising therapeutic strategy. We used microarray analysis to characterize a novel pharmacological inhibitor of HIF2a named PT2399. By comparing genes that are responsive to PT2399 in parental cells vs cells lacking HIF2a, by virtue of CRISPR-mediated genetic editing, we characterized gene signatures that are regulated by PT2399 in a HIF2a dependent manner.
Project description:Hyperactivation of Notch signaling and the cellular hypoxic response are frequently observed in cancers, with increasing reports of connections to tumor initiation and progression. The two signaling mechanisms are known to intersect, but while it is well established that hypoxia regulates Notch signaling, less is known about whether Notch can regulate the cellular hypoxic response. We now report that Notch signaling specifically controls expression of HIF2a, a key mediator of the cellular hypoxic response. Transcriptional upregulation of HIF2a by Notch under normoxic conditions leads to elevated HIF2a protein levels in primary breast cancer cells as well as in human breast cancer, medulloblastoma and renal cell carcinoma cell lines. The elevated level of HIF2a protein was in certain tumor cell types accompanied by down-regulation of HIF1a protein levels, indicating that high Notch signaling may drive a HIF1a-to-HIF2a switch. At the transcriptome level, the presence of HIF2a was required for approximately 21% of all Notch-induced genes: among the 1062 genes that were upregulated by Notch in medulloblastoma cells during normoxia, upregulation was abrogated in 227 genes when HIF2a expression was knocked down by HIF2a siRNA. In conclusion, our data show that Notch signaling affects the hypoxic response via regulation of HIF2a, which may be important for future cancer therapies.
Project description:Hyperactivation of Notch signaling and the cellular hypoxic response are frequently observed in cancers, with increasing reports of connections to tumor initiation and progression. The two signaling mechanisms are known to intersect, but while it is well established that hypoxia regulates Notch signaling, less is known about whether Notch can regulate the cellular hypoxic response. We now report that Notch signaling specifically controls expression of HIF2a, a key mediator of the cellular hypoxic response. Transcriptional upregulation of HIF2a by Notch under normoxic conditions leads to elevated HIF2a protein levels in primary breast cancer cells as well as in human breast cancer, medulloblastoma and renal cell carcinoma cell lines. The elevated level of HIF2 protein was in certain tumor cell types accompanied by down-regulation of HIF1a protein levels, indicating that high Notch signaling may drive a HIF1a-to-HIF2a switch. At the transcriptome level, the presence of HIF2a was required for approximately 21% of all Notch-induced genes: among the 1062 genes that were upregulated by Notch in medulloblastoma cells during normoxia, upregulation was abrogated in 227 genes when HIF2a expression was knocked down by HIF2a siRNA. In conclusion, our data show that Notch signaling affects the hypoxic response via regulation of HIF2a, which may be important for future cancer therapies.